THE 


1NDUSTOMMIN1NG 
THE°GIRL 

WILLIAM  A. 

MCREEVER 


GIFT  OF 
Agricultural  Educ.Dlv. 


THE  INDTJSTKIAL  TRAINING 
OF  THE  GIRL 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    •    BOSTON  •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA   •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON  •    BOMBAY  •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 
TORONTO 


THE  INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING 
OF  THE  GIRL 


BY 
WILLIAM  A.  McKEEVER 

PROFESSOR  OF  CHILD  WELFARE  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  KANSAS.    AUTHOR  OF  "TRAINING  THE 

GIRL,"  "TRAINING  THE  BOY," 

"FARM   BOYS   AND 

GIRLS,"  ETC. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1914 

All  rights  reserved 


COPTBIGHT,  1914, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Nortoooti 

J.  S.  Cushing  Co.  — Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


TO  MY   ESTIMABLE   NIECE 

EDITH  MARIE  J 

THIS  LITTLE  VOLUME  IS  AFFECTIONATELY 
DEDICATED 


674625 


PREFACE 

IN  the  ideal  state  of  society  Labor  and  Love  and  Life 
would  be  regarded  as  three  ways  of  characterizing  the 
same  thing ;  namely,  a  complete  human  existence.  This 
larger,  richer  personality  is  to  me  an  enticing  goal  of 
training,  especially  because  of  my  belief  that  its  means 
of  attainment  exist  potentially  in  the  nature  of  every 
ordinary  child.  Now,  it  is  the  dominant  note  of  this 
little  volume  that  industry  —  when  properly  related  to 
the  growth  and  the  training  of  the  young  —  is  cultural 
and  ennobling.  Slowly  yet  unmistakably,  from  the  age- 
old  superstitions  about  her  sex,  there  is  emerging  a  type 
of  woman  which,  as  I  believe,  will  be  known  as  distinc- 
tively American  —  a  type  which  is  being  created  out  of 
our  plain,  substantial,  composite  stock.  And  during  all 
the  years  of  her  development  this  coming  American 
woman  will  be  guided  first  of  all  by  the  secret  whisper- 
ings of  her  own  true  feminine  nature.  From  the  time 
when  she  first  extends  her  tiny  hands  to  grasp  eagerly 
the  baby  doll,  to  the  day  when  she  bids  adieu  her  first- 
born departing  for  college  —  during  all  these  years  she 
will  continue  to  attain  unto  higher  perfection  and  beauty 
of  character. 

To  play  and  work  and  love  and  serve  and  worship  — 
these  are  the  component  parts  of  all  good  womanly  lives. 
Deny  a  woman  any  one  of  these  holy  practices  and  she 
becomes  incomplete,  servile,  and  unhappy.  This  present 

vii 


viii  Preface 

volume  treats  of  the  industrial  training  alone,  but  the 
other  forms  are  implied  and  have  been  considered  else- 
where. It  is  the  humble  wish  of  the  author  that  many 
parents  and  other  girl  trainers  may  be  led  by  this  book 
to  see  the  way  whereby  they  may  add  genuine  charm 
and  dignity  and  spiritual  worth  to  the  character  of  the 
growing  girl  through  a  carefully  adapted  course  of  indus- 
trial training. 

The  text  of  this  volume  is  constituted  of  Part  One  of 
the  larger  one  entitled  "Training  the  Girl,"  and  that  in 
accordance  with  a  preconceived  plan. 

WILLIAM  A.  McKEEVER. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  KANSAS. 


CONTENTS 

THE  INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  OF  THE  GIRL 

OHAPTEB  PAGE 

I.    THE  SMALL  BEGINNINGS 3 

An  Unusual  "  House  of  Childhood  "       ....  4 

Home  Industry  is  Culture 5 

Love  will  Lead  the  Way 8 

Home  Mindedness  Inculcated         .....  8 

The  Tedious  Beginnings         , 9 

The  Secret  of  Success 11 

II.    THE  KINDERGARTEN  TRAINING      .        .        .  .        .14 

A  Constructive  Plan  of  Development     ....  14 

The  Kindergarten  Method 15 

A  Concrete  Illustration 16 

Much  Work  to  Perform 18 

The  Spirit  of  Co-operation 19 

Another  Important  Appointment 21 

Indulging  the  Creative  Spirit 22 

The  Duty  of  the  Mother 24 

III.  ATTENDING  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  .        .        .        .        •.        •  26 

Work  Distinguished  from  Play       .         .         ...  26 

Beware  of  Contests 28 

The  Reconstructive  Method 29 

Condemning  the  Teacher        .         .         .         .         .         .30 

Mastering  the  Lessons 32 

How  Much  Home  Study 33 

What  of  the  Child's  Health 33 

IV,  HOME  AND  SCHOOL  CO-OPERATION 37 

The  Parent-Teacher  Association 37 

How  to  Organize  a  School  and  Home  Club    ...  39 
ix 


x  Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

How  to  Conduct  the  Club 40 

Getting  the  Point  of  View 42 

Topics  for  the  Program 43 

Home  Study 43 

The  Schoolground  Discipline  .         .         .   "     .         .43 

Morals  on  the  Playground 44 

Home  Industry 44 

A  New  Method  of  Grading    ......       45 

Work  Must  Receive  Recognition   .         .         .         .         .47 

V.    THE  HIGH-SCHOOL  GIRL       .......  50 

The  Danger  of  Confusion       ......  50 

Is  this  Description  True  ? 52 

What  is  the  Remedy  ? 53 

Choice  of  a  High-School  Course 54 

What  of  Domestic  Mindedness 55 

The  Course  in  Household  Science  and  Art     ...  56 

Common-Sense  Instruction 57 

The  Vocation  not  Overlooked 58 

The  High  School  may  not  Fit        .  .         .         .  59 

Democracy  in  the  High  School 60 

The  Spirit  of  Democracy 61 

The  Discipline  in  One  Home 62 

The  High-School  Secret  Society 64 

Keep  the  Daughter  Out  of  It 64 

The  High-School  Girl's  Clothes 66 

VI.    SENDING  THE  DAUGHTER  TO  COLLEGE 68 

Choosing  the  Right  Institution 68 

Selecting  the  Course  of  Study 69 

A  Danger  Period  at  College 71 

A  Change  in  Attitude  of  Mind  .  .  .  .  .72 
Playing  Fair  with  the  Freshman  Girl  ....  73 

The  College  Home  for  Girls 75 

The  Letters  from  Home 76 

The  College  Sorority 1-77 

Health-Impairing  Training  and  Exercise  ...  78 
Shall  the  Young  Woman  Earn  Her  Way  .  .  .79 
Other  Topics  to  Follow .81 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

On  the  way  to  happy  womanhood    .         .        Frontispiece 

FACING   PAGE 

Where  love  leads  the  way 8 

In  the  school  of  life  .                  8 

A  kindergarten  in  "  God's  Great  Out  of  Doors  "       .  18 

Love  and  life  and  labor  may  be  made  one         .         .  28 

A  "  Little  Mother  "  at  her  best         ....  28 

"  Once  upon  a  time  a  good  little  girl "       .         .  38 

A  home  theatre  —  and  these  sisters  are  better  for  it  44 

She  is  just  as  much  at  home  in  the  classroom  or  at 

the  piano  .         .         .         .         .  .         .56 

A  familiar  May  pole  scene  at  college         ...      70 


THE  INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING 

OF  THE  GEkLM.-V,      C1?" 


THE  INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING 
OF  THE  GIRL 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  SMALL  BEGINNINGS 

IF,  on  the  day  these  lines  were  written,  the  reader  could 
have  stepped  into  the  large  attic  of  a  certain  modest 
suburban  home,  the  attractiveness  of  the  scene  witnessed 
there  would  have  doubly  repaid  the  effort  expended  in 
climbing  the  two  flights  of  stairs  leading  thereto.  This 
attic  room  was  perhaps  24  x  30  feet  in  I  dimensions,  ai)d 
all  of  its  commodious  space  was  taken  lip'by  W  remarkabfy' 
complete  equipment  for  the  training  <rf  jtwo ;  littles  gi  els: 
aged  respectively  four  and  six  years/  ^fibW'inticn  do  you" 
want  for  these  girls?"  the  parents  were  banteringly  asked 
by  a  caller,  before  the  presence  of  the  room  above  had  been 
made  known.  "Oh,  they  are  not  for  sale,  they  are  worth 
too  much,"  quickly  replied  the  mother.  "We  are  not 
placing  any  wealth  in  their  hands  but  we  are  trying  to 
put  all  the  riches  possible  into  their  characters." 

What  an  object  lesson  that  well-equipped  attic  room 
would  furnish  for  the  parents  of  America  could  they  see  it 
as  it  was  and  become  acquainted  with  all  its  interesting 
details  of  arrangement!  There  were  displayed  in  minia- 
ture form  practically  all  the  belongings,  the  furnishings, 
the  means  of  industry,  play  and  the  other  activities  neces- 
sary for  a  complete  and  well-balanced  life  for  little  girls. 
The  father  was  an  ordinary  sane  and  right  minded  busi- 
ness man,  the  owner  of  this  unpretentious  home  and  the 


4  Training  the  Girl 

recipient  of  what  you  would  call  a  very  ordinary  income. 
The  mother  was  a  well-poised,  yet  vivacious  young  woman 
who  seemed  to  possess  every  characteristic  of  wholesome 
motherhood  as  well  as  much  fondness  for  the  home  life 
over  which  she  presided.  It  was  plain  to  be  seen  that  the 
thought  of  these  two  happy  parents  was  very  much  ab- 
sorbed in  the  conduct  and  development  of  their  children. 
A  description  of  this  interesting  "house  of  childhood" 
will  serve  to  make  clear  their  remarkable  course  of  home 
training  and  their  complete  plan  for  the  bringing  up  of  the 
little  daughters.  The  description  follows. 

AN  UNUSUAL  "HOUSE  OF  CHILDHOOD" 

Through  wise  foresight  in  planning  the  house  the  parents 
of  the  two  little  girls  referred  to  above  had  specified  that 
'fchft  roojf  \shcu  I'd  be  high  and  steep,  thus  allowing  for  a 
<  large  -amount  of  open  space  in  the  attic  room.  The  two 
<*  gabfe Mentis -6f  this  upper  apartment  were  practically  all 
filled  up  with  the  window  space,  admitting  a  maximum 
supply  of  light  and  air.  At  one  end  there  was  a  door 
leading  out  to  a  small  open  balcony  with  high  railing  for 
protection.  But  the  arrangements  of  the  room  within 
were  particularly  complete  and  attractive  as  they  in- 
cluded practically  all  the  materials  so  dear  to  the  hearts  of 
little  girls.  The  thoughtful  parents  had  made  use  of  very 
light  lattice  strips  in  framing  up  partitions  which  sepa- 
rated the  large  room  into  many  small  compartments. 
This  light  frame  work,  which  was  little  more  than  waist 
high  to  the  girls,  was  covered  with  strips  of  wall  paper, 
thus  giving  much  of  the  appearance  of  the  partitions  in 
the  ordinary  house. 

There  were  door  and  window  spaces  of  convenient  size 
in  this  interesting  child-house.  In  the  extreme  rear  there 
was  the  little  room  which  represented  the  kitchen  in  an 


The  Small  Beginnings  5 

ordinary  home,  and  in  this  were  many  pieces  of  toy 
furniture — a  miniature  stove,  dishes,  cooking  utensils, 
and  the  like,  all  arranged  in  first-class  order.  Next  to  the 
kitchen  was  the  little  dining  room  with  its  table  with 
dainty  cloth,  and  on  that  were  such  furnishings  as  you 
might  expect  the  little  girls  mentioned  above  to  provide. 
There  were  tiny  dining-room  chairs,  some  pretty  pictures 
on  the  walls,  and  other  appropriate  materials.  Adjoining 
the  dining  room  was  a  living  room  where  sweet-faced  little 
dolls  served  as  the  occupants.  A  diminutive  couch,  rock- 
ing chairs,  a  toy  piano,  a  few  baby  books,  a  small  carpet 
on  the  floor,  some  Perry  pictures  which  the  girls  had 
framed,  and  other  appropriate  materials  too  numerous 
to  mention — these  made  up  the  furnishings  of  the  living 
room.  And  then  there  was  a  bed  chamber  with  two  little 
white  beds  and  a  dolly  peacefully  sleeping  in  each.  This 
well-arranged  bedroom  quite  equalled  the  other  apart- 
ments of  the  child-house  in  point  of  attractiveness.  Bath 
room  and  closets  had  not  been  overlooked  in  this  complete 
little  home  and  at  one  side  there  still  remained  space  for 
what  the  children  called  their  play-house.  For,  please 
mark  the  attitude  of  mind  of  the  two  little  women,  this 
other  was  not  to  them  a  play-house.  It  was  a  home  and  it 
received  the  same  serious  consideration  which  the  model 
homemaker  gives  to  the  place  in  which  she  reigns. 

HOME  INDUSTRY  is  CULTURE 

The  well-ordered  and  complete  equipment  of  the  child 
home  described  above  impressed  the  author  with  the 
thought  of  its  peculiar  meaning  and  significance.  And 
especially  the  idea  that  this  attractive  place  was  to  the 
little  girls  not  a  play-house  but  a  home — this  impressed 
him  above  all  else  associated  therewith  until  there  came 
ringing  in  his  mind  clear  and  strong,  the  suggestion: 


6  Training  the  Girl 

Upon  this  foundation  will  I  erect  a  superstructure  of  a 
beautiful  ideal  character  for  womanhood ! 

It  may  at  first  prove  well-nigh  a  shock  to  the  sensi- 
bilities of  some  of  our  readers  if  we  propose  to  place  or- 
dinary work  and  industry  as  a  foundation  stone  for  every 
great  life,  including  a  life  of  well-poised  womanhood. 
This  we  now  do.  But  we  feel  sure  that  as  the  discussions 
develop  we  shall  have  an  increasing  proportion  of  our 
readers  as  friends  and  supporters  of  our  plan.  After  all, 
perhaps  there  is  no  good  life  save  that  life  which  has 
learned  mastery  over  the  self  and  has  acquired  supremacy 
over  something  worthy  of  being  done.  And  so,  in  con- 
structing a  plan  for  the  ideal  career  of  woman,  we  should 
begin  with  the  child,  and  by  giving  the  tiny  little  hands 
some  baby  task  to  perform,  and  we  should  see  that  she  per- 
formed the  appointed  duty  so  successfully  and  so  well  as  to 
make  it  bring  its  certain  reward  of  joy  in  the  mere  doing. 
At  the  same  time  we  should  be  careful  not  to  lay  on  the 
delicate  little  form  a  single  duty  that  might  be  regarded  by 
the  child  herself  as  in  any  sense  burdensome.  The  childish 
instinct,  created  and  ordained  by  Mother  Nature  herself, 
and  coming  to  expression  in  the  life  of  the  little  one, — 
this  should  be  our  first  guide  to  the  selection  of  the  task. 
And  the  childish  spontaneity  and  enthusiasm,  as  it  rose 
and  waned,  should  assist  us  in  determining  the  amount  of 
the  appointed  industry  and  the  length  of  time  during  which 
the  little  one  should  continue  in  its  pursuit. 

There  is  something  very  sweet  and  sacred  in  the  native 
capacity  of  the  unspoiled  little  girl  for  love  and  sympathy. 
Oh,  how  we  wish  for  more  ability  to  understand  this  pre- 
cious inheritance,  with  the  thought  that  it  might  be  de- 
veloped into  a  rich  and  forceful  influence  such  as  would 
dominate  the  career  to  the  end  of  its  existence!  Yes,  we 
should  have  these  fine  qualities  of  love  and  sympathy 


The  Small  Beginnings  7 

color  every  future  deed  in  its  performance,  but  we  see  no 
other  certain  avenue  of  approach  to  the  successful  attain- 
ment of  these  attributes  save  that  of  training  the  young 
life  in  the  performance  and  the  mastery  of  plain  everyday 
work  and  industry.  Be  it  known,  however,  that  we  are 
not  thinking  merely  of  the  girl  who  must  spend  her  adult 
life  in  some  industrial  pursuit.  We  are  thinking  quite  as 
earnestly  of  the  little  one  who  may  have  been  born  in  a 
home  of  wealth  and  refinement,  and  who, — so  far  as  eco- 
nomic reasons  are  concerned, — will  most  probably  never 
actually  need  to  turn  her  hand  to  the  performance  of  a 
single  self-supporting  task. 

Now,  if  we  take  these  two  extreme  cases,  namely,  the 
little  girl  whose  entire  way  of  life  seems  to  promise  to  be 
one  of  heavy  work  and  industry;  and  the  other  little  girl 
whose  promise  for  the  future  seems  to  be  that  of  attaining 
a  position  of  ease  and  affluence,  we  shall  perhaps  be  able 
to  make  our  plan  of  ideal  womanly  development  more 
easily  understood.  In  part  it  is  this:  We  sincerely  desire 
and  hope  that  the  girl  destined  to  a  life  of  industry  and 
the  other  one  destined  to  a  life  of  affluence  shall  always 
know  each  other  through  and  through;  that  they  shall 
be  prepared  to  dwell  in  the  same  community  with  the 
highest  possible  degree  of  mutual  sympathy  and  good 
fellowship.  We  desire  also  that  the  girl  of  industrial  life 
shall  be  so  masterful  in  her  place  as  to  receive  a  large  in- 
crement of  joy  and  satisfaction  from  her  work,  and  as  to  be 
not  altogether  envious  of  her  sister  of  the  so-called  upper 
ranks.  And  we  desire  that  the  other  one  shall  have  been 
made  so  intimately  acquainted  with  ordinary  girlhood 
work  and  industry  as  to  be  prepared  to  think  lovingly 
and  sympathetically  of  all  the  women  who  toil,  and  as  to 
be  deeply  imbued  with  the  thought  of  doing  her  part 
toward  the  amelioration  of  their  condition. 


8  Training  the  Girl 


LOVE  WILL  LEAD  THE  WAY 

Wherever  love  leads  along  the  way  labor  is  transformed 
into  a  delightful  occupation.  So,  in  casting  about  for  a 
tiny  industrial  duty  for  the  baby  girl  we  should  question 
the  affectionate  yearning  of  her  own  little  heart.  Just  at 
the  moment  of  our  approaching  her,  what  is  she  most  fond 
of  trying  to  do?  Having  obtained  an  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion we  should  then  regard  the  response  as  the  unfailing 
pulse  of  nature  throbbing  in  the  little  life;  and  we  should 
immediately  do  our  part  in  furnishing  the  opportunity 
and  the  equipment  necessary  for  much  practice  in  the 
performance  of  the  chosen  task.  Such  in  short  seemed  to 
be  the  method  of  the  good  mother  described  above,  who 
presided  so  ably  over  her  entire  household  and  who  per- 
fected such  a  beautiful  plan  for  the  development  of  her 
two  little  girls.  We  must  go  back  to  her  methods  and 
follow  them  in  detail  supplementing  them  where  neces- 
sary with  the  helpful  methods  of  other  good  homemakers. 

HOME  MINDEDNESS  INCULCATED 

In  watching  for  the  mottoes  of  development  which  seemed 
to  pervade  all  the  efforts  of  this  good  house  mother  in  so 
far  as  they  are  related  to  the  conduct  of  her  daughters, 
we  came  upon  the  suggestion  of  the  apt  phrase  "home 
mindedness."  From  the  very  first  day  and  continuously 
throughout  the  use  of  her  home-training  plan  there  was 
clearly  being  inculcated  into  the  minds  of  the  little  ones 
this  most  praiseworthy  sentiment  about  the  home  life. 
Let  the  reader  mark  carefully  again  the  fact  that  these 
two  girls  were  not  taught  either  to  say  or  to  believe  that 
they  were  playing  while  engaged  in  caring  for  their  minia- 
ture attic  home.  Every  reference  to  this  was  in  terms 
suggestive  of  work  and  industrial  occupation.  On  the 


The  Small  Beginnings  9 

other  hand,  they  were  taught  to  regard  the  small  apart- 
ment called  their  play  room  as  the  place  for  the  play  ac- 
tivities. While  in  that  part  of  the  attic  home  they  played 
and  romped  and  threw  things  about  capriciously.  Noth- 
ing there  was  done  with  necessary  seriousness  of  purpose. 
Blockhouses  were  built  up  only  to  be  knocked  down.  The 
swings,  see-saws,  and  other  equipments  were  for  purposes 
of  mere  sport.  Any  play  activity  might  be  begun  and 
then  abandoned  the  next  moment.  But  in  the  other 
departments,  those  of  the  real  household,  the  children 
were  taught  at  all  times  to  assume  a  different  attitude. 
While  there,  as  in  their  play  room,  the  attitude  of  spon- 
taneity led  the  way:  but  the  task  once  begun  must  of 
necessity  be  carried  through  to  its  completion.  Sometimes 
the  eagerness  of  the  children  would  lead  them  to  wish  to 
undertake  too  large  a  household  duty,  but  just  here  the 
splendid  forethought  and  counsel  of  the  mother  guided 
the  childish  effort.  So,  in  case  of  all  chosen  tasks — like 
that  of  making  up  beds,  preparing  a  meal  for  the  dollies, 
scrubbing  out  the  kitchen,  or  otherwise  putting  the  house- 
hold in  order — the  children  were  always  required  to  carry 
the  performance  through  to  its  completion.  And  they  were 
even  given  time  after  its  performance  to  pause  for  a  mo- 
ment and  contemplate  with  satisfaction  the  work  of  their 
hands. 

THE  TEDIOUS  BEGINNINGS 

A  little  year-old  girl  sat  in  her  crib  with  a  small  fruit 
basket  half  full  of  clothes-pins  on  one  side  of  her  and  a 
quart  milk  bottle  on  the  other.  The  tiny  one  was  slowly 
learning  to  pick  up  the  clothes-pins,  one  at  a  time,  and 
drop  them  into  the  bottle.  How  awkward  were  her  little 
soft  hands!  How  prone  to  carry  the  clothes-pins  to  her 
mouth  rather  than  to  the  bottle!  What  a  waste  of  baby 


10  Training  the  Girl 

energy,  if  we  compare  the  amount  of  effort  with  the  results. 
Some  of  the  clothes-pins  were  dropped  on  the  outside, 
others  were  thrown  through  error  out  upon  the  floor,  and 
still  others  fell  back  into  the  basket;  but  the  child  was 
learning.  Slowly  and  tediously  she  acquired  the  neces- 
sary movements  and  was  enabled  to  do  the  little  task 
which  she  sought  to  perform.  We  observed  in  case  of 
this  baby's  effort  more  than  a  mere  trial  and  error  attend- 
ing the  little  exercise.  We  witnessed,  for  example,  the 
interference  of  habit  with  the  attempt  to  do  a  new  thing. 
The  child  had  already  acquired  the  habit  of  putting  such 
objects  as  clothes-pins  directly  into  her  mouth.  So  again 
and  again  would  the  little  hand  go  up  and  bend  toward 
the  mouth,  then  outward  toward  the  bottle,  instead  of 
taking  the  direct  course  from  the  basket.  However,  prac- 
tice slowly  brought  its  expected  improvement,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  half  hour  or  more  the  movements  of  the 
little  hand  and  arm  were  brought  more  definitely  under 
control. 

The  mother  of  this  baby  girl  seemed  to  understand  very 
well  indeed  her  combined  relation  of  mother  and  teacher. 
She  repeatedly  assisted  the  child  in  economizing  the  ex- 
penditure of  the  energy.  Several  times  she  directed  the 
movement  of  the  little  fingers  in  grasping  and  holding  the 
object.  The  baby  learner  seemed  to  understand  and 
appreciate  much  of  the  meaning  of  it  all.  It  was  now 
suggested  that  the  mother  try  teaching  the  child  to  insert 
the  clothes-pins  into  the  bottle  all  in  one  manner;  that  is, 
with  the  heads  all  downward.  Perhaps  five  minutes' 
time  was  consumed  in  this  effort  before  the  child  seemed 
to  catch  the  meaning  of  it.  And  then,  with  an  expression 
of  real  joy  upon  her  little  countenance,  she  began  to  take 
the  lead  in  arranging  the  objects  so  that  they  would  go 
into  the  bottle  in  the  desired  manner. 


The  Small  Beginnings  11 

THE  SECRET  OF  SUCCESS 

Now,  in  this  instance  of  the  child  playing  with  clothes- 
pins we  have  revealed  the  secret  key  which  unlocks  the 
door  leading  into  the  house  of  knowledge.  Two  or  three 
terms  stand  out  with  special  prominence  in  so  far  as  the 
duty  of  the  teacher  is  concerned:  patience  and  definiteness 
are  the  rules  of  training  here.  Then  add  to  these  merely 
the  understanding  of  how  the  child  nature  learns  through 
native  experience,  and  you  have  the  entire  program  in 
condensed  form:  Patience,  definiteness  and  insight — these 
are  the  three  mottoes  of  instruction.  Now,  recall  the 
fact  that  at  the  moment  when  the  little  child  first 
understood  what  was  desired  of  her  by  way  of  arrang- 
ing the  clothes-pins  in  her  little  hands  so  that  they 
would  go  into  the  bottle  head  first, — recall,  if  you  will, 
this  joy  of  achievement,  and  you  have  additional  insight 
into  what  it  means  to  be  the  real  teacher  of  a  real  learner. 

So,  in  the  task  of  instructing  the  little  girl  in  the 
performance  of  any  ordinary  task,  no  matter  how  small 
that  may  be,  patience,  definiteness  and  methodical  ar- 
rangement for  repeated  trials  and  errors  are  necessary — 
all  to  the  end  that  the  child  may  finally  catch  the  purpose 
intended  and  perform  the  act  by  means  of  her  own  self- 
directed  effort.  This  is  the  ideal  mode  of  procedure  and 
in  practically  all  such  cases  the  expression  of  joy  upon 
the  radiant  face  of  the  little  one  will  amply  reward  the 
effort  in  her  behalf.  She  is  learning  to  do  by  doing;  she  is 
acquiring  a  mastery  over  the  movements  of  her  body. 
She  is  acquiring  a  deftness  in  the  use  of  her  hands  and 
fingers.  In  short,  the  little  one  is  learning  to  do  faith- 
fully and  well  some  assigned  duty,  and  in  reality  is  taking 
the  first  small  steps  in  a  possible  career  of  success  and 
triumph. 


12  Training  the  Girl 

Wherefore,  the  mother  who  comes  to  you  complaining 
of  her  child,  "I  haven't  time  to  bother  teaching  my  little 
girl  to  help  me.  She  is  more  trouble  than  she  is  worth. 
She  gets  under  my  feet  and  hinders  my  work,"  and  so  on — 
this  mother  has  failed  both  to  understand  her  duty  to 
her  child  and  to  appreciate  the  method  whereby  the  mas- 
tery of  life  is  attained.  Was  there  really  ever  a  little 
growing  girl  who  was  "worth  her  salt"  while  learning  to 
help  about  the  household?  Did  it  not  in  every  instance 
cost  tenfold  more  of  time  and  patience  and  energy  than 
was  paid  for  by  all  of  the  fruits  of  her  little  labors?  Indeed, 
one  of  the  first  essentials  for  the  mother-teacher  is  that 
of  looking  for  the  reward  in  the  slowly  emerging  character 
of  the  young  learner.  The  training  must  be  thought  of 
as  a  mode  of  bringing  the  inherent  qualities  out  of  the 
young  life.  With  all  her  inability  to  do  anything  helpful; 
with  all  her  economic  uselessness,  the  little  daughter 
may  be  thought  of  as  a  veritable  gold-mine  of  latent 
riches.  But  the  wealth  hidden  there  can  be  got  at  with 
assurance  only  by  means  of  patient  toil  and  labor  in  lead- 
ing the  child  through  a  systematic  course  of  discipline. 

In  the  chapters  to  follow,  we  shall  take  up  one  by  one 
the  small  disciplinary  home  tasks  suitable  for  training 
and  developing  the  growing  girl.  And  we  shall  attempt 
to  be  very  concrete  and  definite  in  the  setting  forth  of  a 
method  of  instruction. 

LITERATURE  ON  THE  SMALL  BEGINNINGS 

Home  Problems  from  a  New  Standpoint.    Caroline  L.  Hunt.     Chapter 

III,  "  More  Life  for  All."  145  pp.     Whitcomb  &  Barrows,  Boston. 
Misunderstood  Children.   Elizabeth  Harrison.  Chapter  IV,  "  Daughters 

of  Men."  168  pp.     Central  Publishing  Co.,  Chicago. 
Home,   School  and  Vacation.     Annie  W.    Allen.     Chapter   III,    "A 

General  Scheme  of  Education."  220  pp.  Houghton,  Mifflin  Co., 

Boston. 


The  Small  Beginnings  13 

A  Mother's   Ideals.    Andrea   Hofer  Proudfoot.     Chapter   VII,   "The 
^    Radiant  Mother."  282  pp.    A.  Flanagan  Co.,  Chicago. 
/'An  Introduction  to  Child  Study.    W.  B.  Drummond.    Chapter  VI, 
"How  to  Study  a  Baby."    348  pp.    Longmans,  Greene  &  Co., 
N.Y. 

Child.    A  Study  in  The  Evolution  of  Man.    A.  F.  Chamberlain. 
Chapter  IV,  "The  Periods  of  Childhood."     495  pp.     Chas.  Scrib- 
.  ^     ner's  Sons,  N.  Y. 

^Increasing  Home  Efficiency.  Martha  B.  and  Robert  W.  Bruere.  Chap- 
ter XII,  "Launching  the  Child."  318  pp.  The  Macmillan  Co., 
N.Y. 

Individual  in  The  Making.     E.  A.  Kirkpatrick.     Chapter  II, 
"Interest."  339  pp.    Houghton,  Mifflin  Co.,  N.  Y. 

G.  Stanley   Hall.     Chapter  I,   "  Pre- Adolescence."    379  pp. 
D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Each  for  All  and  All  for  Each.    John  Parsons.    Chapter  II,  "Individ- 
ual Initiative."  390  pp.    Sturgis  Walton  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Fireside  Child  Study.      Patterson  Du  Bois.     Chapter  V,  "Where  to 

Begin."  159  pp.     Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 

The  Education  of  Women.    Marian  Talbot.    Chapter  I,  "The  Industrial 
and  Commercial  Change."    252  pp.    University  of  Chicago  Press, 
*          Chicago. 

^Tsyschology  of  Childhood.     Frederick  Tracy.     Chapter  VI,  "^Esthetic, 

Moral,  and  Religious  Ideas".    216  pp.    D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.,  Boston. 

Childhood.     Mrs.  Theodore  W.  Birney.     Chapter  VI,  "Obedience  and 

Punishment."   254  pp.     Frederick  A.  Stokes  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 
A  Guide  to  the  Montessori  Method.     Ellen  Yale  Stevens.     Chapter 
III,  "Self-Discipline  through  Obedience."    240  pp.     Frederick  A. 
Stokes  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  KINDERGARTEN  TRAINING 

WE  are  thinking  of  the  time  when  the  little  daughter 
will  have  become  a  full  grown  woman,  and  wondering 
what  to  do  in  order  to  make  her  character  an  ideal  one. 
We  observe  about  us  so  many  attractive  appearing  young 
women  whose  lives  do  not  bear  the  test  of  a  full  and  com- 
plete analysis.  Some  are  mere  butterflies,  others  are 
parasites,  still  others  seem  to  have  a  bone  of  contention 
to  pick  with  society.  The  last  named  class  is  one  of  the 
largest.  One  who  knows  how  to  make  an  inquiry  about  the 
matter  and  who  does  so  will  be  surprised  at  the  large 
number  of  young  women  there  are  among  us  to-day  who 
harbor  a  kind  of  secret  spite  at  society  and  at  things  as 
they  are.  Something  is  the  matter. 

Whatever  else  may  be  lacking  in  the  character  of  any 
member  of  the  classes  of  young  women  named  above  it 
may  be  said  that  practically  not  one  of  these  is  engaged 
regularly  in  doing  any  work  which  her  instinctive  nature 
longs  to  perform.  And  how  soon  all  these  must  perish; 
for  the  butterfly  is  always  short-lived,  the  parasite  has 
an  uncertain  and  unenviable  career,  and  the  spiteful  and 
envious  creature  quickly  consumes  his  own  heart. 

A  CONSTRUCTIVE  PLAN  OF  DEVELOPMENT 

Why  should  not  the  parent  have  a  constructive  philos- 
ophy of  life  to  apply  from  the  beginning  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  baby  girl?  Indeed,  we  contend  that  he  should. 
If  the  character  of  the  little  one  is  to  unfold  beautifully 

14 


The  Kindergarten  Training  15 

and  to  bring  perennial  joy  to  its  possessor,  something 
very  definite  must  be  done  to  make  the  child  ultimately 
a  producer.  She  may  be  very  happy  during  childhood 
with  all  play  and  no  work;  she  may  flit  about  with  joy 
during  maidenhood,  sipping  only  the  sweets,  and  avoid- 
ing all  assigned  and  irksome  duties.  But  the  day  will 
certainly  come  when  the  full  grown  young  woman  will 
begin  to  measure  herself  by  a  standard  of  intrinsic  value. 
And  from  that  time  on,  her  joy  and  satisfaction  in  life 
will  be  dependent  upon  whether  or  not  she  finds  herself 
really  worthy  within.  Not  mere  getting,  enjoying  and 
consuming  the  fruits  of  others'  labor;  but  giving,  pro- 
ducing, and  contributing  to  the  well-being  of  society — 
this  is  suggestive  of  the  balanced  program  of  training  and 
development  necessary  for  rounding  out  the  life  of  a 
growing  child.  Teach  the  little  daughter  to  use  her  head, 
her  heart,  and  her  hands  with  equal  facility;  give  her  little 
problems  of  her  own  to  think  out;  give  her  little  occasions 
for  pouring  out  her  heart's  love  where  it  is  needed  and 
appreciated;  give  her  opportunities  again  and  again  to 
train  her  hands  to  perform  the  thousand-and-one  work-a- 
day  tasks  that  constitute  a  part  of  the  life  occupations  of 
every  good  woman — give  your  daughter  all  these  forms 
of  discipline,  and  the  day  will  surely  come  when  she  will 
rise  up  and  bless  your  memory  because  of  her  very  great 
worth  to  the  world. 

THE  KINDERGARTEN  METHOD 

Would  that  every  little  girl  could  have  the  valuable 
benefits  of  the  kindergarten  training!  If  this  most  helpful 
form  of  discipline  for  the  little  daughter  be  not  available 
in  the  form  of  a  regular  training  school,  then  the  substance 
of  such  instruction  must  be  given  in  the  home.  Indeed, 
such  home  training  is  well  exemplified  in  the  case  of  the 


16  Training  the  Girl 

attic  room  and  its  equipment  described  in  chapter  one  of 
this  volume.  The  kindergarten  is  a  school  which  com- 
bines the  work  and  play  of  childhood.  Spontaneity  char- 
acterizes everything.  The  little  learners  in  this  school  of 
life  are  engaged  in  doing  such  baby  tasks  as  will  com- 
bine at  once  the  largest  amount  of  childish  interest  with 
the  largest  amount  of  structural  training.  In  the  well- 
conducted  kindergarten  class  the  children  acquire  new 
methods  of  doing  things  and  of  gaining  a  definite  control 
over  their  own  movements. 

In  order  that  the  ordinary  mother  may  be  assisted  in 
understanding  the  meaning  of  the  kindergarten  as  it 
applies  to  the  development  of  her  baby  daughter,  let  us 
describe  some  of  the  valuable  lessons  that  were  actually 
given  in  a  kindergarten  class  of  fifteen  little  boys  and 
girls  ranging  in  age  from  four  to  six  years. 

A  CONCRETE  ILLUSTRATION 

These  little  learners  assembled  in  the  back  parlors  of 
the  Congregational  church  of  Manhattan,  Kansas,  where 
they  came  under  the  able  instruction  of  Miss  Anna  Fair- 
man,  a  trained  kindergartner.  Here  were  tables,  chairs, 
sand-boxes,  work  tools,  and  all  the  other  apparatus  nec- 
essary for  the  training.  The  floor  was  marked  off  in 
circles  and  squares  for  the  practice  movements.  The 
children  were  taught  to  regard  the  place  as  their  kinder- 
garten home,  and  to  believe  that  each  one  was  there  to 
do  his  little  part  in  rendering  the  situation  a  happy  one 
and  in  making  the  hour  profitable  for  all.  The  teacher 
herself  was  most  happy  in  her  work,  and  this  joy  was 
contagious  among  the  children.  While  the  class  was  a 
naked  one  of  boys  and  girls,  for  the  sake  of  directly  serving 
our  purpose,  let  us  now  consider  especially  the  part  of  the 
daily  programs  most  suitable  for  the  training  of  the  girls. 


The  Kindergarten  Training  17 

First  of  all,  there  were  the  songs.  Children  live  in  a 
world  of  things  and  activities,  and  to  the  common  little 
child  practically  every  perceivable  object  is  both  alive  and 
sentient.  It  is  not  merely  a  world  of  make-believe,  but 
for  the  tiny  consciousness  it  is  a  world  of  real  belief.  So 
the  best  kindergarten  songs  speak  plainly  and  directly  of 
thoughts  and  deeds. 

"Little  Bluebirds,  tell  us,  tell  us, 

Do  the  south  winds  bring 
Any  news  of  happy  springtime, 

Happy,  happy  spring?" 

Thus  through  the  medium  of  the  songs  in  which  all 
joined,  the  little  ones  in  Miss  Fairman's  class  kept  up  a 
happy  communication  with  the  things  of  nature.  The 
robins  sang  and  hurried  busily  about  the  place  expressing 
their  little  bits  of  sentiment  as  to  the  building  of  their 
nests,  the  care  of  their  eggs,  and  the  love  and  tender  re- 
gard for  their  young.  The  violets  and  morning  glories 
came  with  their  peculiar  messages  of  sweetness  and  light 
and  thought  of  the  seed  time  and  harvest.  Indeed,  to  this 
happy  and  well-taught  little  class  the  world  was  a  veritable 
fairy-land  and  everything  in  it  was  alive  with  interest  and 
activity  and  sentiment  for  the  child  mind. 

Yes,  you  say,  but  this  is  a  fictitious  life,  the  child  can- 
not go  prancing  through  the  world  of  fact  as  if  it  were 
only  one  of  fairies  and  dreams,  not  known  at  its  actual 
worth  and  by  its  real  meaning.  This  life  is  full  of  hard 
toils  and  heavy  tribulations  which  the  young  must  learn 
to  meet.  Correct,  indeed,  we  answer.  In  so  far  as  the 
adult  is  concerned  you  have  spoken  the  truth.  But  for 
the  child,  the  natural  one  who  is  given  even  a  reasonable 
opportunity  to  do  so,  the  dream-world  interpretation  of 
things  is  the  normal  course  for  the  time  being.  Allow  the 


18  Training  the  Girl 

little  one  of  the  kindergarten  age  to  pass  happily  through 
this  fairy-land  of  his  own  creation,  give  him  the  means,  the 
apparatus  and  the  opportunities  to  deal  with  objects  as 
if  they  were  all  animate,  as  if  they  all  knew  and  understood 
him,  and  behaved  in  thought  of  him — do  this  with  the 
little  child,  we  urge,  and  he  will  slowly  come  out  of  the 
dream  land  into  the  one  of  adult  reality,  so-called,  by  far 
the  better  prepared  to  deal  with  the  sterner  situations  of 
life.  We  challenge  any  one  who  is  thoughtful  and  stu- 
dious with  reference  to  the  meanings  of  childhood,  to 
show  that  it  is  not  both  reasonable  and  helpful  to  indulge 
the  child  in  his  natural,  animistic  attitude  toward  things. 

MUCH  WORK  TO  PERFORM 

But  aside  from  the  songs  and  other  concert  movements 
Miss  Fairman  gave  her  little  ones  much  of  a  constructive 
nature  to  perform.  The  little  girls  brought  their  dolls 
with  them  and  were  furnished  the  materials  for  making 
simple  doll  clothes.  How  awkward  and  unskilled  the 
tiny  hands  were  at  first!  Some  mothers  would  have 
given  up  in  despair  and  made  the  doll  clothes  themselves, 
but  that  method  would  not  have  served  the  aim  of  con- 
structiveness  as  thought  of  in  this  little  kindergarten 
school.  Each  girl  was  to  have  the  enjoyment  of  her  own 
doll  rightly  adorned  with  garments,  and  in  addition  to  this 
joy  the  further  pleasure  of  having  made  each  little  article 
herself.  So  there  were  the  slow  going  processes  of  train- 
ing— of  how  to  thread  the  needle;  how  to  hold  the  ma- 
terials in  the  hands;  how  to  make  the  stitches;  and  how  to 
assemble  the  parts  of  the  little  dress.  Some  of  the  baby 
movements  had  to  be  gone  over  again  and  again,  but 
slowly  the  soft  little  fingers  acquired  their  deftness,  and 
as  they  did  so  the  baby  face  lighted  up  more  and  more 
with  an  expression  of  joy  and  satisfaction.  How  it  would 


g 

o 

H 

El 

tf 
O 


a 

§ 


The  Kindergarten  Training  19 

have  brightened  the  faces  of  the  mothers  themselves 
could  they  have  been  there  and  witnessed  the  progress  of 
their  baby  daughters,  as  now  this  one  and  now  that  held 
up  a  little  piece  of  the  doll  garment  to  receive  a  word  of 
approval  or  a  suggestion  as  to  the  next  part  of  the  task ! 

Then,  there  were  doll  houses,  beds,  chairs,  and  other 
equipments  to  make;  and  the  little  girls  created  all  these 
things  so  willingly  with  their  own  baby  hands. 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  CO-OPERATION 

What  a  delightful  thing  it  is  for  the  individual  of  what- 
ever age  to  realize  that  he  is  living  and  moving  in  a  world 
of  real  persons;  that  others,  too,  have  tasks  and  problems, 
and  perplexities;  that  others  need  one's  assistance  and 
co-operation,  while  at  the  same  time  they  are  pleased 
to  render  such  things  in  return!  So  as  will  be  explained 
presently,  the  little  girls  in  this  well-conducted  kinder- 
garten school  learned  the  lessons  of  co-operation  and  in- 
terdependence. 

But  first  let  us  describe  the  making  of  the  doll  house  and 
furnishings.  Shoe  boxes  and  ordinary  paste  board  cut 
into  strips,  some  waste  pieces  of  wall  paper,  paste,  brush, 
scissors,  and  the  like,  constituted  the  raw  materials.  The 
thought  of  each  little  girl  was  upon  the  work  being  under- 
taken. Their  teacher  continued  to  talk  to  them  about 
what  they  were  planning  to  do,  how  each  piece  was  to  be 
used,  how  the  doll  houses  were  to  be  finished,  and  so  on. 
While  all  worked  in  accordance  with  the  same  plans  and 
specifications,  each  little  one  was  permitted  to  manifest 
her  individuality  in  the  work  being  done.  There  was 
some  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  personal  taste  in  the 
choice  of  colors  and  in  the  matter  of  assembling  the  parts 
of  the  house.  Then,  there  were  the  tiny  bed,  the  chairs, 
tables  and  the  dining-room  equipment.  As  the  work  con- 


20  Training  the  Girl 

tinued  and  increased  in  complexity  there  was  displayed 
more  and  more  the  personal  taste  of  each  of  the  little 
workers.  Now,  let  the  reader  mark  well  the  peculiar  value 
of  the  instruction  just  sketched.  It  was  indeed  play  of 
the  most  enticing  sort,  but  in  addition  to  that  every  eager 
little  mind  was  acquiring  knowledge  of  a  very  definite  kind 
and  every  little  hand  was  increasing  its  degree  of  facility 
of  use.  Moreover,  and  above  all  things  else,  each  child 
was  learning  to  construct  something  that  prepared  for 
and  signified  the  more  serious  business  of  the  years  to 
come. 

Now  for  the  spirit  of  co-operation.  It  happened  that 
on  one  occasion  a  certain  little  girl  member  of  the  group 
was  ill  and  could  not  be  present  at  the  kindergarten  school. 
The  teacher  referred  affectionately  to  the  absent  one  and 
asked  the  other  members  what  might  be  done  as  a  show  of 
kindliness  and  remembrance.  Various  things  were  quickly 
suggested,  and  out  of  it  all  there  was  soon  evolved  the 
purpose  to  build  the  doll  house  with  all  of  its  furnishings 
and  send  these  things  to  the  little  ailing  one.  How  eagerly 
all  hands  went  to  work !  A  division  of  labor  was  arranged. 
Some  were  cutting  out  the  pieces,  others  pasting,  still 
others  assembling  the  parts,  and  so  on.  The  instructor 
had  noticed  from  their  own  house-building  what  each 
one  seemed  most  apt  at  doing,  so  in  the  division  of  labor 
she  tried  to  give  each  little  girl  that  particular  part  to 
perform.  The  work  was  quickly  done.  "Why!"  cried 
one  of  the  twelve  who  had  co-operated  in  making  the  doll 
house  for  the  little  sick  friend,  "We  made  this  house  in 
just  a  little  while.  It  took  us  about  three  days  to  make 
our  own  houses."  So  not  only  did  the  little  girls  learn 
much  from  this  happy  experience  about  the  spirit  of  co- 
operation but  they  derived  therefrom  the  suggestion  as 
to  the  very  large  saving  of  time  in  the  construction  of  a 


The  Kindergarten  Training  21 

given  piece  of  work,  done  in  suck  a  way.  And  in  order 
to  make  the  lesson  complete  in  all  of  its  meanings,  the 
baby  workers  were  appointed  to  carry  the  doll  house  and 
its  equipments  to  their  little  sick  friend  where  they  might 
have  the  pleasure  of  witnessing  her  joy  in  its  possession. 

ANOTHER  IMPORTANT  APPOINTMENT 

Children  are  naturally  fond  of  the  plastic  art.  If  there 
be  nothing  better  available  they  will  go  directly  into  the 
mud  and  work  with  that,  molding  it  into  mud  "pies," 
water  dams,  and  the  like.  So  the  kindergarten  takes  ac- 
count of  all  this  instinctive  disposition  of  the  child  to 
create  out  of  plastic  material  its  own  imagined  forms, 
and  it  furnishes  an  artist's  clay  therefor.  Girls  as  well  as 
boys  are  exceedingly  fond  of  this  sort  of  activity.  In 
conducting  the  work  in  molding  in  her  kindergarten  school, 
Miss  Fairman  kept  in  mind  the  natural  animism  of  child- 
hood. So  the  forms  which  her  little  ones  molded  out  of 
clay  were  not  dead  and  inert  things,  but  to  them  they  were 
creatures  of  life  and  thought  and  activity.  In  so  far  as 
conditions  would  allow,  the  models  were  formed  by  the 
children  in  imitation  of  living  patterns.  The  dog,  the 
horse,  the  cat,  and  the  chicken  were  observed  rather  than 
models  of  these,  and  thus  there  was  combined  with  the 
lesson  of  molding,  an  additional  lesson  in  close  observa- 
tion of  the  forms  of  living  things.  In  order  to  deepen  the 
interest  and  to  inculcate  wholesome  sentiment  about 
domestic  animals,  Miss  Fairman  always  adheres  to  the 
practice  of  talking  much  to  the  children  about  the  animals 
which  they  are  creating  out  of  clay.  When  through  with 
all  this,  the  children  have  been  made  to  understand  that 
horses  can  suffer  from  being  overworked,  driven  too  fast, 
not  rightly  fed  and  watered,  and  from  being  otherwise 
mistreated.  So  with  the  other  animals — the  cow,  the  cat, 


22  Training  the  Girl 

and  the  dog — these  came  in  for  their  share  of  the  thought- 
ful attention  and  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  children. 

We  must  not  minimize  the  value  of  this  lesson  about 
the  care  and  sympathy  for  dumb  animals.  It  is  not  always 
men  but  it  is  sometimes  thoughtless  and  heartless  women 
who  mistreat  these  dumb  friends  and  servants  of  ours. 
But  such  mistreatment  as  we  have  often  observed  to  be 
accorded  a  dumb  creature  by  some  apparently  intelligent 
woman — such  treatment  is  not  a  matter  of  wantonness  or 
intended  cruelty.  It  is  most  usually  an  affair  of  ignorance, 
in  case  of  one  whose  thought  has  never  been  definitely  or 
adequately  brought  to  the  consideration  of  the  nature  and 
the  rights  of  domestic  animals.  Thus  this  crude  plastic 
art,  introduced  in  time  of  mere  childhood,  trains  the  girl 
to  create  through  the  use  of  her  deft  little  fingers,  forms 
that  to  her  are  living  and  sentient.  And  thus  there  slowly 
emerges  out  of  this  beautiful  kindergarten  lesson  the 
character-forming  ideals  in  respect  to  the  nature  of  dumb 
animals  and  their  service  to  mankind.  Thus  again,  there 
accrues  to  the  baby  learner  a  sense  of  inner  worth  and 
ability;  for  with  her  own  hands  she  is  constructing  that 
which  she  in  part  has  created  out  of  the  activities  of  her 
imaginative  mind. 

INDULGING  THE  CREATIVE  INSTINCT 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Miss  Fairman's  work  in  the 
kindergarten  school  as  described  above  tended  to  give 
expression  to  the  creative  instinct  of  the  child.  The  or- 
dinary child  has  very  little  inventive  ability.  There  must 
always  be  suggestion  and  rough  guidance.  It  is  better  to 
say  that  curiosity  and  childish  interest  will  lead  the  little 
one  to  the  discovery  of  new  acts  and  movements  than 
to  say  that  the  child  actually  invents  them.  After  the 
interest  of  the  kindergarten  girls  was  aroused  in  relation 


The  Kindergarten  Training  23 

to  the  work  of  making  doll  houses,  for  example,  they  were 
encouraged  to  express  their  peculiar  tastes  and  individuali- 
ties. Thus  the  charm  and  the  enticement  of  the  task  were 
much  increased.  Indeed,  so  great  is  the  interest  that  the 
little  girl  of  the  kindergarten  age  will  often  remain  at 
her  self-chosen  piece  of  work  even  longer  than  her  baby 
strength  and  the  condition  of  her  health  would  warrant. 

So  we  cannot  be  too  insistent  that  the  kindergarten 
girl  be  given  some  constructive  work  to  perform,  some- 
thing that  she  loves  to  do  and  something  that  will  slowly 
give  her  a  sense  of  security  and  responsibility  in  her  light 
endeavors.  Miss  Fairman's  method  of  building  up  this 
creative  ability  in  the  little  girls  of  her  class  is  so  com- 
mendable as  to  deserve  a  further  description.  For  example, 
she  planned  some  very  interesting  raphia  work,  that  is, 
the  manufacture  of  some  little  rugs  for  the  doll  houses. 
For  the  construction  of  these  rugs  it  was  necessary  to 
make  looms,  and  this  she  arranged  to  have  the  children 
do,  using  the  toy  carpenter's  tools  and  the  lathe  materials. 
Work  baskets  were  likewise  planned  and  constructed.  The 
first  ones  were  satisfactory  in  every  way  excepting  for 
lack  of  lids  to  keep  out  the  dust.  So  these  were  afterwards 
re-constructed  with  a  cover  attached,  and  with  handles 
and  other  parts  suitable  for  their  chosen  purpose  and 
suggestive  of  the  real  work  baskets  used  by  women. 

We  may  note  in  passing  the  suggestion  that  the  con- 
structive work  of  children  should  not  always  be  com- 
pletely planned,  that  they  should  be  allowed  to  do  some 
work — like  that  just  described  above — which  proves  on 
trial  to  be  unsatisfactory.  The  value  of  that  sort  of  lesson 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  child  gets  the  benefit  of  trial  and 
error  and  receives  the  suggestion  that  things  planned 
do  not  always  work  out  to  a  wholly  satisfactory  conclusion. 
The  learner  also  acquires  the  lessons  of  patience  so  often 


24  Training  the  Girl 

necessary  in  tearing  down  and  rebuilding  a  piece  of  work 
after  it  has  once  been  begun. 

THE  DUTY  OF  THE  MOTHER 

We  have  described,  at  considerable  length,  the  kinder- 
garten work  as  conducted  by  Miss  Fairman  and  in  doing  so 
have  been  guided  by  the  belief  that  the  ordinary  mother 
can  conduct  much  of  this  work  in  her  own  home  and  in 
behalf  of  her  own  little  girl.  While  we  recommend  and 
strongly  urge  that  the  child  be  sent  to  a  good  kindergarten 
school,  we  find  this  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  to  be 
impracticable;  for,  unfortunately  the  kindergarten  school 
is  not  as  yet  available  for  the  masses  of  the  children  of 
the  country. 

In  closing  the  chapter  we  feel  inclined  to  insist  again 
that  the  mother  reader  do  not  overlook  the  point  of  giving 
her  baby  daughter  the  industrial  discipline  as  suggested 
above,  and  that  during  the  very  earliest  years.  However, 
let  us  understand  once  for  all,  that  this  discipline  is  not 
thought  of  in  terms  of  mere  preparation  for  making  a 
living  and  for  earning  wages,  important  as  these  things 
are.  It  is  thought  of  and  urged  here  because  of  its  very 
great  service  in  building  up  a  beautiful,  aggressive  and 
yet  well-poised  character  in  the  life  of  the  growing  girl. 
In  short,  this  industrial  discipline  is  recommended  be- 
cause of  its  worth  as  an  agency  in  slowly  placing  in  the 
hands  of  any  ordinary  girl  a  mastery  over  the  plain  situa- 
tions of  life,  and  ultimately  a  mastery  over  her  own  fate. 

LITERATURE  ON  THE  KINDERGARTEN  TRAINING 

Kindergarten   and   Home.     V.    M.    Hillgar.     Chapter    IV,    "General 

Method/'    152pp.    Baker  Taylor  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Children's  Rights.    Kate  Douglas  Wiggin.     Chapter  VI,  "Relation  of 

the  Kindergarten  to  Social  Reform."     235  pp.     Houghton,  Mifflin 

Co.,  Boston. 


The  Kindergarten  Training  25 

A  Study  of  Child  Nature.     Elizabeth  Harrison.     Chapter  I,  "The 

Instinct  of  Activity";  Chapter  II,  "The  Instinct  of  Investigation." 

207  pp.    The  Chicago  Kindergarten  College,  Chicago. 
A  Montessori  Mother.    Dorothy  Canfield  Fisher.    Chapter  VI,  "The 

Montessori  Apparatus  in  the  American  Home."      283  pp.  Henry 

Holt  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 
The  Montessori  Method.    Maria  Montessori.    Chapter  V,  "Discipline." 

377  pp.    Frederick  A.  Stokes  Co.,  N.  Y. 
The    Kindergarten    Review.      Monthly,    $1.50    per    year.     Springfield, 

Mass. 
Outline  of  a  Practical  Course  in  Child  Rearing.    31  pp.    lOc.    Woman's 

City  Club,  Chicago. 
Kindergarten  in  a  Nutshell.     Nora  A.  Smith.     134  pp.     Doubleday, 

Page  &  Co.,  Garden  City,  N.  Y. 

The  Kindergarten  Magazine.     Monthly.      Manistee,  Mich. 
The  Mothers'  Magazine.    Monthly.    Elgin,  111. 
Disciplining  Children.    Maria  Montessori.     McClure's  Magazine.     Vol. 

39,  p.  95. 
The  Home-Made  Kindergarten.    Nora  A.  Smith.    Entire  text.    117  pp. 

Houghton,  Mifflin  Co.,  N.  Y. 
We  and  Our  Children.     Woods  Hutchinson.      Chapter  II,  "Babies  as 

Bulbs."    371  pp.    Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Stories  to  Tell.     Julia  Darrow  Cowles.     Entire  text.      124  pp.     A. 

Flanagan  Co.,  Chicago. 
A  Year  with  the  Mother  Play.    Andrea  Hofer  Proudfoot.    Entire  text. 

182  pp.    A.  Flanagan  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Love  and  Law  in  Child  Training.    Emilie  Poulsson.    Chapter  III,    "The 

Application  of  Kindergarten  Principles  in  the  Child's  Home  Life." 

235  pp.    Milton  Bradley  Co.,  Springfield,  Mass. 


CHAPTER  III 
ATTENDING  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL 

ON  first  thought  it  might  seem  to  the  reader  that  the 
public  school  attendance  is  not  rightly  considered  as  a 
part  of  the  industrial  training.  However,  it  is  our  purpose 
here  so  to  regard  it.  The  best  definition  of  work  and  in- 
dustry makes  little  or  no  distinction  between  using  the 
head  and  using  the  hands.  Its  substantial  meaning  is 
that  of  the  attitude  of  the  individual  toward  the  task 
before  him.  So  we  should  regard  the  public  school  train- 
ing which  the  growing  girl  receives  as  first  of  all  an  affair 
of  industrial  discipline;  and  we  should  have  her  learn  to 
regard  her  school  lessons  as  plain  work-a-day  tasks  which 
call  for  the  best  of  her  painstaking  effort  and  patience. 

WORK  DISTINGUISHED  FROM   PLAY 

If  parents  and  teachers  will  all  carefully  draw  a  line  of 
distinction  between  the  work  assignments  and  the  play 
activities  of  the  child,  a  point  of  progress  in  training  will 
thereby  be  gained.  Perhaps  there  was  really  some  justi- 
fication in  labelling  everything  in  the  kindergarten  school 
as  play.  But  if  the  kindergarten  training  of  the  girl — 
now  arrived  at  school  age — has  been  rightly  conducted, 
she  has  been  impressed  gradually  with  the  idea  of  that 
necessity  which  attaches  itself  to  all  good  work.  At  any 
rate  the  young  learner  just  entering  the  grades  is  brought 
into  a  new  relationship  to  her  appointed  activities.  There 
is  now  no  necessity  of  trying  to  make  her  believe  that 
the  assigned  work  is  mere  play.  On  the  other  hand,  she 

26 


Attending  the  Public  School  27 

should  be  impressed  with  the  thought  that  the  lessons 
are  prescribed,  that  certain  standards  of  excellence  are 
to  be  met,  and  that  her  promotions  are  to  be  earned  by 
her  own  efforts. 

Of  course,  there  is  always  a  possibility  of  making  the 
little  school  girl  feel  that  she  has  been  driven  to  her  les- 
sons, but  such  a  thing  is  far  from  our  purpose  here.  So, 
while  imbuing  her  with  the  thought  that  the  work  is  serious 
and  something  that  is  carefully  prescribed,  we  should 
also  say  much  to  give  her  self-confidence  and  good  cheer 
in  undertaking  to  bring  up  her  assignments.  Upon  this 
point  it  might  be  well  to  quote  substantially  the  state- 
ment of  a  good  foster-mother  who  revealed  a  commendable 
method  of  dealing  with  her  eight-year-old  adopted  child. 
Her  statement  follows : — 

"My  little  Edith  is  eight  years  old  and  she  is  just  as 
dear  to  me  as  if  she  were  my  own  flesh  and  blood.  Yes, 
I  am  teaching  her  to  work  as  well  as  to  play.  We  talk 
about  her  school  lessons  every  day  and  I  try  to  help  her 
to  understand  various  little  matters  that  come  up  in 
relation  to  her  studies.  I  try  above  everything  else  to 
make  her  fond  of  her  school  and  its  requirements.  I  talk 
to  her  much  about  the  time  when  she  will  be  a  big  girl 
and  a  young  woman  and  tell  her  how  glad  she  will  then 
be  that  the  early  lessons  were  well  learned.  I  remind  her 
again  and  again  that  her  play  will  be  so  much  happier  in 
case  she  has  been  faithful  in  her  school  work.  I  tell  her 
that  it  makes  it  so  much  easier  for  her  teacher  and  myself 
and  the  other  school  children  to  like  her  when  she  is  ready 
and  faithful  in  her  lesson  getting.  Edith  has  been  in 
school  one  year  and  is  now  starting  on  her  second.  She 
and  I  know  a  great  many  things  in  common  about  her 
class  work  and  we  enjoy  talking  to  each  other  about  them. 
It  certainly  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  watch  that  girl  grow 


28  Training  the  Girl 

and  it  especially  encourages  me  to  know  that  she  is  fond 
of  her  school  lessons,  but  I  have  never  tried  for  a  moment 
to  make  her  believe  that  the  school  work  is  play." 

BEWARE  OF  CONTESTS 

We,  who  have  studied  school  matters  long  and  seriously, 
would  forewarn  parents  against  encouraging  their  daugh- 
ters to  participate  in  educational  contests  against  their 
schoolmates.  There  might  possibly  be  some  justification 
in  setting  up  individual  contests  for  prizes  in  athletics  and 
in  mere  games  of  sport.  But  we  cannot  endorse  the 
thought  of  using  such  means  as  a  plan  of  inducing  young 
girls  to  study  their  lessons.  Do  you  wish  to  train  your 
little  daughter  to  match  herself  point  by  point  against 
other  girls?  Do  you  wish  her  to  look  for  weaknesses  and 
shortcomings  in  the  others?  Do  you  wish  her  to  have 
practice  in  gossiping  meanly  about  the  characters  of  her 
schoolmates?  Then,  this  personal,  school-prize  contest — 
this  method  of  matching  girl  against  girl — will  engender 
all  these  mean  dispositions. 

Look  forward  to  the  time  when  your  daughter  will  be 
a  full  grown  woman,  think  of  her  matured  life  in  terms  of 
its  love  and  sympathy  and  good  will  for  others  and  you 
will  be  the  more  inclined  to  emphasize  during  her  child- 
hood days  in  school,  those  practices  which  help  her  to 
find  and  think  about  and  talk  about  the  very  best  there 
is  in  the  characters  of  her  schoolmates.  It  is  quite  as  easy 
to  match  your  little  daughter's  best  self  against  her  worst 
self;  to  have  her  compare  her  attainments  to-day  with 
those  of  yesterday;  to  help  her  average  up  her  grades  in 
school  for  one  month  and  determine  to  outdo  her  record 
for  the  next  month.  Thus  your  child  will  learn  to  despise, 
if  you  will,  not  some  of  her  classmates,  but  rather  that 
weaker  effort  of  her  own  which  she  feels  herself  to  be 


I 


Attending  the  Public  School  29 

overcoming.  In  short,  you  do  not  wish  your  daughter  to 
struggle  for  supremacy  over  the  little  friends  with  whom 
she  is  associated  in  the  class.  You  rather  desire  her  to 
strive  for  supremacy  over  herself;  and  you  add  much  new 
joy  and  inspiration  to  her  young  life  in  proportion  as  you 
assist  her  in  attaining  such  a  position  of  superiority. 

THE  RECONSTRUCTIVE  METHOD 

The  author  of  this  book  has  in  mind  all  the  while  the 
thought  of  a  slow-going  re-construction  of  human  society. 
It  is  his  most  ardent  wish  that  we  all  might  dwell  together 
in  a  closer  bond  of  sympathy  and  good  fellowship,  and 
he  believes  that  the  public  school,  assisted  by  thoughtful 
and  conscientious  home  training,  holds  the  key  to  the 
door  of  this  larger  and  closer  social  unity.  So  the  little 
daughter  in  school  must  be  repeatedly  counseled  with 
about  the  appointed  duties  and  the  everyday  experiences 
therein.  Again  and  again  the  little  one  will  run  home 
with  a  quickly-made-up  judgment  about  her  schoolmates 
or  her  teacher:  as,  "Nellie  didn't  recite  half  as  well  as  I 
did  and  she  got  a  better  grade";  or  "Miss  Blank  (the 
teacher)  made  me  stay  in  for  missing  my  spelling  and  she 
let  others  go  who  missed  as  many  words  as  I  did."  These 
little  tales  of  disappointment,  childish  and  imperfect 
judgments  of  what  actually  happened,  are  all  regular 
occurrences  in  the  ordinary  home  where  there  are  children 
of  school  age.  Such  small  matters  of  school  gossip  furnish 
the  wise  and  thoughtful  parent  many  an  opportunity  for 
re-directing  the  effort  of  the  child  toward  more  desirable 
ends.  In  such  cases  the  parent  is  slow  to  condemn  the 
daughter's  supposedly  favored  classmate  and  still  less 
inclined  to  speak  disparagingly  of  the  teacher. 

We  must  make  our  point  clear  and  emphatic  here.  For 
example,  the  little  daughter  comes  home  with  a  story  of 


30  Training  the  Girl 

mistreatment  in  the  school.  It  is  well  to  turn  at  once  to 
a  discussion  of  her  own  conduct.  "It  does  not  matter 
so  much  what  Nellie  or  any  other  girl  did,  my  child,  but 
what  did  you  do?  If  Nellie  has  faults  she  must  correct 
them  or  at  some  future  time  they  will  seriously  hurt  her. 
Are  you  certain  you  know  all  about  how  she  did  in  this 
recitation?  Were  you  watching  her  all  the  time?  And 
if  you  were,  was  that  studying  your  lesson?  Did  you 
really  do  your  part  in  preparing  for  the  recitation?  Could 
you  not  easily  do  better  another  time?  How  could  you 
study  better?  And  now  about  Miss  Blank,  your  teacher. 
Do  you  know  all  about  what  she  is  doing  and  thinking? 
How  do  you  find  time  to  watch  her  so  much?  Perhaps  she 
does  many  things  and  better  things  that  you  do  not  see, 
while  you  are  studying." 

So,  as  described  above,  the  parent  will  seem  to  defend 
the  little  girl's  schoolmates  and  her  teacher  and  to  throw 
the  blame  for  the  dissatisfaction  partly  upon  the  precious 
daughter  herself.  The  parent  who  actually  understands 
school  situations  will  be  very  slow  indeed  to  allow  his 
child  to  hear  him  speak  a  word  of  condemnation  of  the 
teacher.  He  may  think  ill  of  the  teacher,  questioning 
seriously  her  methods  and  ability;  but  if  these  matters  are 
deserving  of  discussion  such  consideration  should  be  taken 
up  with  the  teacher  herself,  or  with  the  principal  or  the 
superintendent  of  the  schools.  In  a  great  majority  of  cases 
a  father  or  mother  who  goes  to  the  school  to  blame  and 
complain  of  the  teacher  will  go  back  with  the  head  bowed 
partly  in  shame  and  partly  in  humility. 

CONDEMNING  THE  TEACHER 

Any  parent  or  patron  who  feels  inclined  to  condemn 
wholesale  the  work  done  in  the  public  schools  should  visit 


Attending  the  Public  School  31 

those  schools  somewhat  extensively  before  deciding  to 
give  expression  to  his  condemnation;  and  in  about  90% 
of  the  cases  he  will  leave  the  words  of  disapproval  unsaid. 
Now,  if  your  little  daughter  comes  home  with  a  story  that 
seems  to  reflect  discredit  upon  the  teacher,  withhold  your 
blame  and  your  ill  will  for  the  time  and  go  direct  to  the 
school  for  further  and  definite  information.  Go  less  in 
the  spirit  of  criticism  and  rather  more  in  the  attitude  of 
one  who  is  trying  to  learn  and  to  assist,  than  is  usually 
done.  Most  probably  you  will  be  surprised  to  find  in  the 
personality  of  your  child's  teacher  a  devoted  and  sweet- 
spirited  young  woman,  one  who  is  more  or  less  over- 
weighted with  the  many  perplexities  common  to  the  or- 
dinary schoolroom;  one  who  is  expending  more  energy 
in  behalf  of  the  well-being  of  that  school  than  justice  to 
herself  would  demand;  and  one  who  is  far  more  desirous 
of  having  the  school  deal  fairly,  justly  and  sympathetically 
with  all  the  children  than  you  are.  Yes,  if  you  want  to 
hang  your  head  in  shame  because  of  that  wicked  little 
rebuking  note  which  you  hastily  wrote  the  teacher  of 
your  child,  spend  a  half  day  visiting  the  school  and  ob- 
serving the  many  trials  and  perplexities  arising  there. 
It  may  be  said  with  certainty  that  in  the  great  majority  of 
instances  the  fault-finding  school  parent  is  largely  ig- 
norant of  the  actual  condition  of  affairs  in  the  school. 

So,  in  case  of  a  disagreement  between  the  parent  and 
the  teacher,  an  honest  board  of  arbitration  will  usually 
decide  in  favor  of  the  latter.  The  fair-minded  parent 
himself  will  be  inclined  to  go  to  the  furthest  limit  in  speak- 
ing approvingly  of  the  teacher  in  the  hearing  of  the  child 
and  in  attempting  to  adjust  the  child's  difficulties  in  ac- 
cordance with  every  reasonable  school  requirement.  In- 
deed, it  becomes  a  serious  obligation  on  the  part  of  the 
parent  to  take  every  reasonable  measure  necessary  to 


32  Training  the  Girl 

make  the  little  daughter  thoroughly  fond  of  her  teacher 
and  happy  in  the  performance  of  her  lesson  tasks. 

MASTERING  THE  LESSONS 

It  may  appear  singular  that  we  should  delay  a  discussion 
of  the  lesson-getting  tasks  so  long,  but  we  have  been  far 
more  interested  in  the  school  girl's  general  behavior,  and 
especially  in  her  attitude  toward  her  teacher  and  school- 
mates. We  may  feel  assured  that  the  matter  of  preparing 
the  lessons  will  tend  to  take  care  of  itself,  provided  the 
little  student  be  fond  of  her  school  and  enter  enthusiastic- 
ally into  all  of  its  vitalizing  movements. 

Pupils  ranging  below  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades 
should  be  required  to  do  no  studying  at  home.  For  these 
grades  the  parents'  duty  in  respect  to  the  lesson  prepara- 
tion will  consist  largely  of  informal  talks.  It  will  be  neces- 
sary in  this  connection  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  general 
progress  of  each  study  pursued  and  to  see  that  the  child 
keeps  up  with  the  average  member  of  her  class.  A  direct 
question  or  two  put  to  the  pupil  herself  will  be  the  means 
of  discovering  her  attitude  of  mind  toward  any  given 
lesson  topic.  Is  she  attempting  to  do  the  assigned  work? 
Is  she  desirous  of  keeping  up  with  her  mates?  Is  she 
anxious  to  please  her  teacher?  An  affirmative  answer  to 
the  foregoing  questions  will  most  probably  satisfy  the 
inquiring  parent  that  good  progress  is  being  made. 

Throughout  all  the  inquiry,  the  suggestion  and  discus- 
sion concerning  the  assigned  schoolroom  duties,  the  home 
trainer  should  have  no  thought  of  placing  the  daugh- 
ter in  an  attitude  of  envy  and  rivalry  toward  her  school- 
mates. It  is  a  serious  mistake  for  the  parent  to  join  the 
child  in  the  school  contest,  even  though  the  child  may  seem 
to  have  an  excellent  chance  to  win  the  prize.  Hatred, 
strife,  bitterness  of  feeling,  and  all  other  such  evils,  are 


Attending  the  Public  School  33 

the  first  fruits  of  the  hand-to-hand  fight  that  goes  under 
the  name  of  a  prize  contest.  You  do  not  desire  to  have 
your  little  daughter  stand  above  her  mates,  but  rather 
to  rank  high  along  with  them,  and  to  be  strong  and  noble, 
partly  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  she  is  working  in  harmony 
and  good  fellowship  with  them. 

How  MUCH  HOME  STUDY 

As  stated  above  there  should  be  only  irregular  home 
study  on  the  part  of  the  seventh-grade  school  girls.  A 
half  hour  one  or  two  evenings  per  week  spent  in  bringing 
up  some  rather  unusual  task  will  be  the  maximum.  And 
even  in  the  eighth  grade  the  assignments  should  be  such 
as  not  to  require  more  than  an  average  of  thirty  minutes' 
study  during  the  five  school-day  evenings  at  home.  If, 
therefore,  the  instructor  of  your  daughter  should  impose 
heavy  assignments  requiring  much  fatiguing  home  work, 
radical  steps  should  be  taken  to  inquire  into  the  matter. 
It  is  worth  more  to  all  concerned  for  the  growing  girl  to 
continue  in  an  attitude  of  buoyancy  and  good  will  toward 
the  school  than  to  have  her  to  settle  down  into  a  habit  of 
hurry  and  worry  in  an  attempt  to  become  a  brilliant 
scholar.  For,  remember,  the  pupil  is  not  for  the  school, 
but  the  school  exists  for  the  sake  of  the  child  and  his 
character  unfoldment.  If  the  teacher  seems  to  be  driving 
the  young  pupils  overmuch — if  his  ambition  appears  to 
be  that  of  covering  so  much  book  work,  rather  than  that 
of  developing  so  much  character  in  the  pupil — then,  call 
him  to  task,  remonstrating  with  him  first,  and  afterwards, 
if  need  be,  with  the  superior  officers. 

WHAT  OF  THE  CHILD'S  HEALTH 

There  may  be  no  reasonable  doubt  of  the  fact  that  good 
physical  health  is  the  only  sound  and  substantial  basis 


34  Training  the  Girl 

for  satisfactory  school  progress.  The  child  which  is  suf- 
fering from  some  physical  ailment  may  keep  up  with  his 
classmates,  and  at  times  he  may  even  lead  them  all  in  the 
matter  of  reciting  and  earning  grades.  But  if  the  child  is 
suffering  from  ill  health  all  this  brilliant  school  work  is 
bought  at  the  expense  of  too  much  nerve  strain;  and 
some  future  time  will  exact  a  heavy  toll  of  interest  upon 
the  debt.  It  is  not  a  difficult  matter  for  the  conscientious 
parent  to  determine  whether  or  not  his  little  daughter  is 
physically  sound  and  well  enough  to  pursue  the  school 
lessons.  For  example,  What  about  the  child's  eyes?  Does 
she  see  reasonably  well  and  enjoy  the  benefit  of  ample 
light  while  working  in  her  seat?  Do  her  eyes  ever  pain 
her?  Has  she  ever  complained  of  headache?  Does  she 
ever  remark  that  the  "letters  run  together"  while  she  is 
reading?  If  there  proves  to  be  even  the  suggestion  of  any 
eye  defect,  consult  a  specialist  and  bring  about  a  speedy 
remedy — this  is  the  only  reasonable  rule. 

Then,  How  about  the  child's  hearing,  Is  it  normal?  A 
careful  test  of  the  hearing  ability  of  all  the  children  in  a 
schoolroom  will  show  a  wide  variation.  A  slight  degree 
of  deafness  means  that  a  certain  percentage  of  the  words 
uttered  by  others  are  not  heard  and  therefore  not  under- 
stood. Let  the  adult  perform  the  following  experiment: 
Pick  up  a  page  of  typewritten  manuscript  of,  say,  300 
words.  Let  somebody  erase  at  random  one  or  two  words 
out  of  each  sentence  and  then  attempt  to  get  the  meaning 
from  one  reading.  This  test  will  indicate  in  some  measure 
the  great  disadvantage  in  which  the  slightly  deaf  school 
child  is  placed.  But  suppose  it  were  not  merely  one  page 
but  that  all  the  pages  were  marked  as  stated  above;  then, 
the  reading  would  become  so  difficult  that  you  would  tend 
to  lose  interest  in  it.  So  with  the  child  that  ranges  below 
normal  in  his  hearing.  He  tends  to  fall  into  the  habit  of 


Attending  the  Public  School  35 

not  listening,  and  thus  he  loses  the  chief  benefits  of  the 
oral  recitations  in  the  school. 

Other  possible  physical  defects  of  the  little  daughter 
at  school  are  those  which  interfere  with  the  respiration 
and  thus  lower  the  vitality  and  mentality.  Adenoids  are 
first  thought  of  in  this  connection.  If  the  child  breathes 
through  the  mouth  such  is  a  very  direct  indication  of  the 
presence  of  adenoids;  and  so  the  case  might  as  well  be 
taken  at  once  to  a  specialist  for  examination  and  treat- 
ment. As  a  rule,  the  child  suffering  from  adenoids  is 
dull  and  slow  to  learn.  There  is  apparently  for  him  an 
obstructed  flow  of  the  purified  blood  to  the  brain  centers. 
He  seems  to  be  more  or  less  low  in  vitality,  to  secure 
imperfect  recuperation  from  his  sleep,  and  frequently  to 
show  a  listlessness  in  respect  to  practically  all  the  juve- 
nile activities.  The  removal  of  adenoids  has  improved 
the  mentality  of  many  a  child  twenty-five  per  cent,  or 
more. 

A  further  warning  in  respect  to  the  health  of  the  school 
girl  is  that  touching  her  tendency  towards  nervousness. 
One  cannot  be  too  careful  to  see  that  the  child  has  a  well- 
regulated  life  during  the  school  period,  which  is  an  excel- 
lent means  of  keeping  the  growing  nervous  system  in 
order.  Wholesome  food  suited  to  the  child's  age;  the 
avoidance  of  many  sweetmeats,  or  irregular  meals;  a 
regular  time  for  going  to  bed  and  rising:  a  maximum  of 
outdoor  exercise  and  invigorating  activity — these  are 
some  of  the  matters  that  suggest  an  evenly  balanced 
physical  life  for  the  school  girl  and  a  reasonable  safeguard 
against  nervous  irritability. 

LITERATURE  ON  ATTENDING  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL 

Child-Welfare  Magazine.    Organ  of  National  Congress  of  Mothers.  $1.50 
per  year.    Philadelphia. 


36  Training  the  Girl 

r   Psychology  as  Applied  to  Education.     P.  M.  Magnusson.     Chapter  III, 
"Child  Study."    345pp.    Silver,  Burdett  &  Co.,  Boston. 

The  School  Journal.  Monthly.  $1.25  per  year.  School  Journal  Publish- 
ing Co.,  N.  Y. 

Health  Pamphlet  for  Schools.  Ernest  B.  Hoag,  M.  D.  Whitaker  & 
Ray-Wiggin  Co.,  San  Francisco. 

Vocational  Education  in  the  Boston  Public  Schools.  Frank  M.  Leavett. 
Vocational  Education.  Vol.  I,  p.  316. 

The  New  Child-Labor  Movement.     Win.  A.  McKeever.     Journal  of 
.    y    Home  Economics.  Vol.  V,  No.  2. 

growth  and  Education.    John  Mason  Tyler.    Chapter  XI,  "The  Child 
Entering  School."    270  pp.    Houghton,  Mifflin  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Some  Silent  Teachers.  Elizabeth  Harrison.  Chapter  III,  "  Dumb  Stone 
and  Marble."  187  pp.  The  Sigma  Publishing  Co.,  Chicago. 

Stories  and  Story  Telling.  Edward  Porter  St.  John.  Chapter  I,  "The 
Educational  Value  of  the  Story."  100  pp.  The  Pilgrim  Press. 
Chicago. 

Century  of  the  Child.     Ellen  Key.    Chapter  V,  "Soul  Murder  in 
the  Schools."    339  pp.     G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  N.  Y. 

The  Montessori  Method.  Maria  Montessori.  Chapter  XVI,  "Intellec- 
tual Education."  377  pp.  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Co.,  N.  Y. 

The  Modern  Mother.  Dr.  H.  Lang  Gordon.  Chapter  XX,  "Training 
in  Early  Childhood,"  270  pp.  R.  F.  Fenno  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 


CHAPTER  IV 
HOME  AND  SCHOOL  CO-OPERATION 

ONE  of  the  most  cheering  signs  of  the  better  times  to 
come  and  of  the  higher  level  toward  which  our  modern 
society  is  tending  is  witnessed  in  the  many  co-operative 
activities  in  which  the  school  and  the  home  are  now  par- 
ticipating. Indeed,  the  day  is  well-nigh  at  hand  when 
it  will  be  considered  a  mark  of  low  breeding  and  unworthi- 
ness  for  the  parent  having  a  child  in  the  public  school  to 
neglect  all  active  participation  in  the  life  and  progress  of 
that  school.  So,  in  order  that  the  well-wishing  parent 
may  if  possible  have  presented  to  him  some  specific  and 
feasible  suggestions  for  his  becoming  a  vital  factor  in  the 
school  progress,  we  shall  now  indicate  a  few  lines  of  home 
and  school  co-operation. 

THE  PARENT-TEACHER  ASSOCIATION 

One  of  the  greatest  public-school  movements  of  modern 
times  is  that  which  has  been  organized  under  some  such 
title  as  the  one  above.  In  effect  this  organization  is  a 
plan  for  linking  the  best  thought  of  the  parent  with  the 
best  thought  of  the  teacher  in  a  forward  movement  in 
behalf  of  the  child  in  which  they  are  both  interested.  The 
old-fashioned  way  was  to  ignore  the  school  until  it  got 
into  trouble  with  the  child,  and  then  to  engage  in  a  more 
or  less  bitter  contention  with  the  teacher  and  the  school 
authorities.  In  that  day  a  visit  to  the  school  by  the  par- 
ent usually  meant  the  beginning  of  trouble.  But  this  es- 
tranged and  unfamiliar  relation  between  the  school  and 

37 


38  Training  the  Girl 

the  home  is  being  rapidly  transformed  into  one  of  co- 
operation and  yoke-fellowship.  In  every  part  of  the  na- 
tion, and  especially  in  many  of  the  eastern  cities,  there 
are  now  well-organized  parent-teacher  associations;  and 
in  some  of  these  places  the  father  or  mother  of  the  school 
child  is  considered  an  ex-offirio  member. 

What  an  opportunity  for  the  parent  who  loves  his  own 
child  and  earnestly  and  anxiously  desires  to  have  that 
child  make  good  progress  in  the  school!  If  such  a  father 
or  mother  will  unite  with  an  active  parent-teacher  associa- 
tion it  may  be  said  that  he  will  learn  more  during  the  first 
year  of  active  interest  in  this  new  movement  than  the 
child  himself  will  learn  in  the  school.  Indeed,  to  many  a 
parent  this  is  the  first  and  greatest  opportunity  for  the 
discovery  of  what  child  life  really  means. 

"Oh,"  you  say,  "I  know  all  about  my  child!  I  look 
after  her  health  and  her  clothing,  send  her  to  school  on 
time,  see  that  she  keeps  up  with  her  class,  and  all  that. 
Now,  is  not  that  my  full  part?  "  No,  we  answer;  it  is  not. 
You  do  not  know  your  child  through  and  through  until 
you  have  come  into  contact  with  many  other  children, 
those  who  have  been  born  and  reared  under  many  differ- 
ent circumstances.  All  this  first  hand  observation  of  the 
activities  of  other  children  will  send  you  back  to  your  own 
child  with  a  new  flood  of  light  upon  the  problems  that 
relate  to  his  progress  and  development. 

Is  the  work  in  the  home  too  heavy  for  you,  Good  Mother, 
and  for  that  reason  can  you  not  afford  to  go  into  the 
home-and-school  association?  Then,  we  answer  again 
that  participation  in  this  out-of-home  club  will  lighten 
the  burdens  of  the  household,  and  will  give  you  so  much 
new  strength  and  inspiration  for  the  bearing  of  those 
burdens  and  for  the  management  of  the  children  about 
your  feet,  that  you  will  tend  to  go  on  your  way  rejoicing. 


* 


Home  and  School  Co-operation  39 

There  is  danger  that  even  the  thoroughly  good  and  well- 
meaning  mother  may  become  an  irritable  slave  to  the 
routine  duties  of  her  household,  largely  because  of  the 
fact  that  she  stays  too  closely  at  her  post.  So  we  recom- 
mend that  she  become  an  active  member  of  the  local 
parent- teacher  association;  and  if  there  be  no  such  or- 
ganization, we  earnestly  urge  that  she  take  the  initiative 
in  the  matter  of  bringing  one  about. 

How  TO  ORGANIZE  A  SCHOOL  AND  HOME  CLUB 

Let  us  keep  to  our  subject  and  think  largely  in  terms 
of  the  problems  that  center  in  the  life  of  the  common 
school  girl.  Just  how  may  the  well-meaning  mother  pro- 
ceed to  bring  about  the  organization  of  the  parent-teacher 
club?  Interest,  enthusiasm  and  agitation — a  little  of 
these  put  into  active  use  and  they  begin  at  once  to  grow. 
Then  more  of  the  same  thing  and  the  problem  begins  to 
take  hold  of  one's  whole  being  and  to  pull  him  along  to- 
ward success.  Go  to  the  school  once  or  twice  per  week, 
talk  to  the  teacher  sympathetically  about  the  school  and 
home  relationships.  Ask  her  what  you  can  do,  not  so  much 
in  behalf  of  your  own  child's  progress,  but  rather  as  a 
means  of  making  that  child  contribute  more  worthily  to 
the  success  of  the  entire  school.  Ask  the  teacher  con- 
cerning her  best  ideals  for  bringing  home  and  school  life 
together.  Then  go  to  the  neighbors  who  likewise  have 
children  in  school,  and  inquire  as  to  their  methods  of 
dealing  with  their  children's  school  affairs.  What  criti- 
cisms have  they  upon  the  teacher's  methods,  upon  the 
conduct  of  the  general  school  work,  and  upon  the  policies 
of  the  school  authorities?  So  you  go  about  among  all, 
inquiring,  suggesting,  discussing,  until  you  find  a  few 
others  who  are  ready  to  go  into  your  new  project. 

The  first  meeting  of  your  prospective  association  may 


40  Training  the  Girl 

be  a  very  informal  affair.  It  may  consist  of  two  or  three 
good  mothers  and  the  teachers  of  the  building  coming 
together  for  a  brief  discussion  of  matters  that  have  grown 
out  of  the  school  work  of  the  day.  Questions  and  replies 
here  go  around  spontaneously,  and  out  of  this  informal 
meeting  there  will  easily  come  the  beginnings  of  a  per- 
manent organization.  It  may  be  that  you  have  taken  the 
precaution  to  write  for  literature  on  the  parent-teacher 
club  movement.  The  National  Congress  of  Mothers, 
Philadelphia,  The  Public  School  Association  of  New  York 
City,  or  the  National  Institute  of  Child  Life,  also  at  Phila- 
delphia, will  give  much  definite  help  and  information. 
Before  joining  the  new  movement  of  the  kind  we  are 
recommending,  the  parents  naturally  wish  to  have  a  report 
of  the  progress  already  attained  elsewhere.  It  will  prove 
a  great  stimulus  to  action,  if  you  can  report  a  large 
amount  of  such  activities  already  under  way  in  other 
places. 

How  TO  CONDUCT  THE  CLUB 

So,  we  urge  again,  if  you  wish  to  do  the  very  best  pos- 
sible in  thought  of  the  unfoldment  of  the  latent  beauty 
resident  in  your  little  daughter  now  at  school,  that  you 
should  participate  in  this  home  and  school  association. 
But  although  you  have  presumably  been  the  most  active 
in  perfecting  the  new  society,  it  may  be  well  to  see  that 
others  are  elected  to  the  honor  of  holding  positions  therein. 
As  a  rule,  one  of  the  teachers  should  be  selected  as  presi- 
dent of  the  club — probably  some  young  woman  who  pos- 
sesses tact,  enthusiasm  and  good  judgment. 

Now  the  next  important  step  is  that  of  making  out  a 
program  of  topics  for  the  discussions;  and  in  this  connec- 
tion the  most  common  fault  is  that  of  making  the  topics 
too  broad  and  general.  Avoid  in  every  possible  way 


Home  and  School  Co-operation  41 

mere  theories  and  generalities.  Even  enthusiasm  will 
die  quickly  unless  it  has  something  definite  to  do.  So  in 
making  out  a  list  of  topics,  two  matters  in  particular  will 
guide  the  members  of  the  committee:  (1)  Select  only 
topics  that  are  simple,  definite  and  concrete;  (2)  In  so 
far  as  it  is  possible,  select  speakers  who  know  from  actual 
experience  something  about  the  topics  assigned.  The 
sources  of  information  referred  to  above  will  be  glad  to 
furnish  outlines,  plans,  small  programs,  methods  of  con- 
ducting the  work,  and  the  like. 

Another  excellent  means  of  making  the  program  a  suc- 
cess will  be  that  of  supplying  each  participant  with  def- 
inite literary  helps  or  with  at  least  references  thereto. 
This  last-named  service  is  performed  by  the  well-made 
syllabus.  But  if  such  an  outline  be  not  available,  then 
some  member  who  knows  most  about  the  home  library 
and  its  contents  may  render  the  service.  The  National 
Institute  of  Child  Life,  of  Philadelphia,  publishes  monthly 
a  little  pamphlet  giving  a  resume^  of  the  child-welfare  ar- 
ticles in  the  magazines,  and  this  valuable  document  may 
be  had  at  a  very  trifling  cost. 

The  program  committee  must  be  cautioned  about  as- 
suming that  the  ordinary  well-meaning,  enthusiastic 
mother  naturally  knows  enough  about  the  topic  assigned 
her,  to  discuss  it  helpfully.  On  the  other  hand  it  may  be 
reasonably  assumed  that  she  cannot  give  a  good,  stimu- 
lating discussion  of  her  topic  without  some  study  and 
reference  reading.  In  the  case  of  one  small  club  of  the 
kind  here  mentioned,  a  certain  mother  possesses  a  large 
number  of  fresh,  new  volumes  treating  the  child-welfare 
subjects.  This  good  mother  lends  out  her  private  library 
books,  selecting  a  suitable  one  for  each  topic  on  the  club 
program,  and  requiring  the  borrower  to  return  the  volume 
promptly. 


42  Training  the  Girl 

GETTING  THE  POINT  OF  VIEW 

We  are  so  deeply  concerned  about  this  matter  of  a 
parent-teacher  club  in  connection  with  every  school  that 
we  shall  now  go  more  definitely  into  the  discussion  of  the 
program  topics.  Our  thought  in  doing  this  is  not  merely 
that  of  improving  the  work  of  the  school;  it  is  not  merely 
that  of  assisting  the  mother  in  the  problem  of  keeping 
her  daughter  well  up  with  the  progress  of  the  school. 
Our  purpose  is  largely  that  of  the  better  community  life 
which  is  certain  to  grow  out  of  all  this  co-operative  ac- 
tivity. The  community  must  be  thought  of  as  one  and 
not  many.  Classes,  castes,  factions,  cliques,  and  the 
like,  are  all  more  or  less  obscured  in  the  wholesome  com- 
munity where  there  is  aggressive  team  work  and  co- 
operation. Now  the  school  is  not  for  the  sake  of  the  dis- 
cipline; it  is  not  for  the  sake  of  the  lessons,  the  grades, 
and  the  promotions;  it  is  not  for  the  sake  of  the  teacher  or 
the  board  of  education;  it  is  not  even  for  the  sake  of  the 
individual  child.  The  best  justification  of  the  common 
school  is  this:  It  makes  for  a  united  community;  it  in- 
culcates sympathy,  good  will,  co-operation,  personal  self- 
reliance,  and  loyalty  to  the  best  interests  of  the  whole  of 
humanity.  If  we  can  but  draw  the  central  thought  of 
the  common  parent  away  from  the  idea  that  his  child  is 
to  be  trained  to  enter  into  combat  with  the  world,  trained 
to  secure  the  good  things  of  life  through  shrewd  and 
cunning  activities  intended  to  wrest  such  things  from 
somebody  else — if  we  can  get  this  erroneous  point  of  view 
out  of  the  mind  of  the  parent  and  induce  him  to  think  of 
his  child  as  in  process  of  unfolding  numerous  latent  possi- 
bilities common  to  all  the  children;  to  think  of  him  as  in 
process  of  learning  day  by  day  in  school  and  out,  how  to 
enter  co-operatively  into  the  great  life  of  the  community 


Home  and  School  Co-operation  43 

and  the  nation — then,  we  shall  have  gained  a  strong  point 
of  vantage  in  behalf  of  human  welfare.  And  rightly 
thought  of  and  organized,  the  new  parent-teacher  move- 
ment will  contribute  toward  this  higher  and  better  com- 
munity life. 

TOPICS   FOR   THE   PROGRAM 

In  order  to  show  how  the  discussions  of  the  parent- 
teacher  club  might  well  go  on,  we  shall  now  name  a  few 
topics  and  suggest  methods  of  treating  them. 

Home  Study.  We  raised  the  question  above  as  to  how 
much  the  child  should  study  at  home.  Your  daugh- 
ter is  growing  larger  and  stronger  each  day.  She  is  pass- 
ing up  through  the  grades.  The  lesson  tasks  are  slowly 
growing  heavier  and  more  numerous.  How  much  should 
she  study  at  home?  This  topic,  treated  generally,  is 
sufficiently  important  to  occupy  one  entire  period  of 
the  club  meeting.  What  is  especially  desired  is  a  full 
exchange  of  ideas  among  the  parents  and  teachers  present, 
and  a  full  statement  of  the  situation  in  which  each  one 
works.  If  it  is  desired  that  the  topic  be  subdivided  we 
suggest  the  following  for  the  afternoon  program: 

How  Much  Home  Study  for  Pupils. 

1.  Boys,  seventh  grade  and  below. 

2.  Girls,  seventh  grade  and  below. 

3.  Girls,  eighth  grade  and  above. 

4.  Boys,  eighth  grade  and  above. 

One  parent  and  one  teacher  may  be  assigned  to  each 
topic,  the  one  to  offer  a  well-prepared  ten-minute  paper, 
and  the  other  a  five-minute  discussion  of  the  paper. 

The  Schoolground  Discipline.  While  the  author  con- 
tends that  the  children  at  play  are  quite  as  much  in  need 
of  a  leader  and  instructor  as  they  are  in  the  class  room, 
our  present  school  equipment  is  not  such  as  to  allow  for  a 


44  Training  the  Girl 

regular,  hired  school  playground  leader.  Usually  the 
teacher's  full  strength  is  required  to  conduct  the  classes 
and  maintain  good  order  within.  Therefore,  she  can  go 
only  occasionally  upon  the  schoolground  during  the  play 
period.  And  yet,  much  of  the  most  definite  and  important 
learning  of  the  whole  school  comes  from  the  playground 
activities.  The  children  are  acquiring  good  or  ill  practices 
there  quite  as  actively  as  they  are  in  the  class  room. 
Under  present  circumstances,  how  can  this  situation  be 
reasonably  well  dealt  with?  The  parent-teacher  club  may 
well  consume  another  hour  in  the  discussion  of  this  affair. 
The  following  program  is  suggested: — 
Morals  on  the  Playground. 

1.  What  my  boy  hears  and  sees  on  the  playground. 

2.  What  my  girl  hears  and  sees  on  the  playground. 

3.  Directing  the  playground  activities  of  the  girl. 

4.  Directing  the  playground  activities  of  the  boy. 

One  or  two  parents  may  discuss  each  of  the  first  two 
topics  and  one  or  two  teachers  each  of  the  second  two.  Out 
of  it  all  the  teachers  should  learn,  first,  what  good  or  evil 
lessons  are  being  derived  from  the  playground  activities; 
second,  what  re-direction  may  appear  to  be  feasible  for  the 
same  activities.  Then,  the  parents  may  receive  many 
suggestions  as  to  how  the  home  can  co-operate  in  the  im- 
provement of  the  playground  morals. 

Home  Industry.  The  problem  of  requiring  the  school 
child  to  help  with  the  home  work  is  always  a  vital  one 
and  it  is  especially  an  important  one  for  the  parents  and 
teachers  to  discuss  together.  A  survey  of  the  situation 
will  show  that  some  children  are  doing  heavy  home  duties 
regularly,  while  others  are  doing  nothing  of  the  kind. 
Reports  in  the  case  of  two  little  girls  in  the  same  sixth- 
grade  class  showed  that  one  was  devoting  an  average  of 
three  hours  per  day  to  the  house-helping  tasks  and  that 


A    HOME    THEATRE    AND    THESE    SISTERS   ARE    BETTER    FOR    IT 


Home  and  School  Co-operation  45 

the  other  was  not  even  dressing  herself  without  assistance. 
Yet,  both  were  expected  to  do  the  same  amount  of 
schoolroom  work.  The  free  and  frank  discussions  and 
reports  of  the  members  of  the  club  cannot  help  but 
bring  out  startling  revelations  of  irregularity  and  un- 
evenness  relative  to  the  home  industries  of  the  children. 
The  following  topical  outline  is  suggested  to  guide  the 
discussion: — 

Home  Industry  for  the  School  Child. 

1.  What  and  how  much  work  my  pre-adolescent  boy 
does  at  home. 

2.  What  and  how  much  work  my  pre-adolescent  girl 
does  at  home. 

3.  What  and  how  much  work  my  adolescent  boy  does 
at  home. 

4.  What  and  how  much  work  my  adolescent  girl  does 
at  home. 

This  program  implies  a  clear  subdivision  of  the  topic  and 
that  each  participant  is  to  discuss  a  concrete  case,  naming 
the  age  and  grade  of  the  child  and  including  a  definite 
statement  as  to  the  kind,  nature  and  amount  of  the  work. 
After  this  discussion  the  parents  will  nearly  all  naturally 
possess  a  fuller  understanding  of  the  whole  problem  of 
home  industry  for  the  school  child,  and  many  will  doubt- 
less be  ready  to  make  the  necessary  re-adjustments.  The 
mother  whose  little  daughter  does  absolutely  no  home 
tasks  will  be  placed  in  quite  as  unenviable  a  light  as  the 
other  one  whose  child  is  required  to  perform  an  over- 
amount  of  such  work. 

A  NEW  METHOD  OF  GRADING 

We  are  especially  desirous  of  making  this  volume  treat 
of  the  entire  life  of  girlhood  and  young  womanhood;  and 


46  Training  the  Girl 

in  thought  of  this  fact  we  wish  to  remind  the  reader  of  a 
new  and  very  promising  condition  that  is  now  arising  in 
the  most  progressive  public  schools.  It  is  this:  There  is 
now  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  most  thoughtful  and 
modern  school  officials  to  test  the  pupil  in  respect  to  every 
possible  type  of  ability  and  to  give  credit  for  every  worthy 
thing  the  pupil  may  be  able  to  do.  The  old  school  nar- 
rowed the  child  down  to  a  few  book  subjects  and  graded 
him  high  or  low  in  accordance  with  his  ability  to  pass  in 
those  subjects,  while  it  gave  little  or  no  heed  to  ability 
that  lay  outside  of  the  school  course.  But  the  new  method 
calls  for  a  much  wider  schedule  of  tests,  and  for  a  graded 
evaluation  of  the  pupil's  home  work  as  well  as  that  of  the 
school  work.  The  girl  who  makes  an  average  grade  of 
95  in  her  several  text-book  subjects,  and  yet  who  never 
performs  a  single  home  duty  is  too  often  exalted  above  her 
true  place  in  the  school  society.  Some  other  girl  who 
happens  to  make  a  very  low  average  in  her  class-room 
subjects,  and  who  at  the  same  time  proves  to  be  a  splendid 
home  helper,  is  usually  rated  far  too  low  in  the  ordinary 
school.  In  order  to  put  a  check  upon  this  false  and  one- 
sided classification  and  ranking  of  pupils  there  is  now  an 
interesting  and  very  commendable  method  of  grading 
in  home  work  as  well  as  in  school  work. 

Let  the  parent  turn  over  the  monthly  report  card  when 
it  comes  from  the  teacher,  showing  the  grades  made  in  the 
several  subjects,  and  write  on  the  back  the  grades  for 
the  course  of  home  discipline  offered  below.  Of  course 
the  child  will  not  be  doing  all  these  home  tasks  at  one 
time.  And  then,  let  there  be  made  an  average  of  the  home 
and  the  school  grades.  This  will  probably  give  a  much 
more  fair  and  just  rating  for  the  daughter  than  is  set 
forth  by  the  class-room  grades  when  standing  alone.  If 
one  should  desire  to  use  figures  instead  of  letters,  then 


Home  and  School  Co-operation 


47 


let  him  assume  that  E  represents  90  to  100;  G,  80  to  90; 
F,  70  to  80;  and  C,  below  70. 

THE  HOME  GRADE  CARD 

1.  Washing  dishes 

2.  Sweeping  and  dusting 

3.  Bed-chamber  work 

4.  Preparing  meals 

5.  Waiting  on  table 

6.  Darning  and  mending 

7.  Plain  sewing. 

8.  Fancy  sewing 

9.  Household  management 

10.  Taking  care  of  room 

11.  Tending  the  baby 

12.  Personal  hygiene 


Note,  Grade  as  follows — 
E= Excellent 
F=Fair 
G  =  Good 


P=Poor 
C= Condition 


WORK  MUST  RECEIVE  RECOGNITION 

There  are  two  distinctive  services  to  society  to  be  de- 
rived from  this  new  method  of  grading  school  pupils  on 
their  home  duties.  The  first  very  desirable  result  is  this: 
Common  industry  will  become  more  and  more  respectable 
as  an  occupation;  it  will  become  a  topic  of  schoolroom 
gossip;  its  various  detailed  aspects  will  receive  thoughtful 
consideration;  the  teacher  will  fall  into  the  habit  of  com- 
mending the  various  types  of  home  industry;  and  the  chil- 
dren will  perform  such  work  with  credit.  By  slow  degrees 
the  shielded  and  spoiled  and  over-rated  pupil — who  is  a 
mere  book  worm  and  non-industrial — will  be  placed  in 
an  unenviable  position  before  the  eyes  of  all  the  pupils. 


48  Training  the  Girl 

Thus  the  epithets,  "slow,"  "backward,"  "dull,"  and 
the  like  may  be  made  to  apply  to  the  child  who  is  not 
mastering  his  home  work  as  well  as  to  the  child  who  is 
not  mastering  his  school  work. 

Parents  may  as  well  get  ready  for  this  new  order  of 
things.  We  have  long  been  regarding  the  schoolroom 
instruction  as  a  matter  of  course  and  necessity.  Expert 
authorities  have  prescribed  the  work  there.  Now  this 
same  systematic  mode  of  treatment  is  about  to  be  applied 
to  the  home  industries  suitable  for  the  education  and 
training  of  children.  We  have  long  been  requiring  the 
girl  to  pass  in  reading,  grammar,  arithmetic,  history,  and 
the  other  book  subjects.  We  are  now  about  to  require 
her  to  pass  in  dishwashing,  dining-room  work,  plain  sew- 
ing, and  baby  tending.  And  when  we  have  carefully  as- 
signed this  full  course  of  study  to  all  common  school  girls 
and  have  required  them  to  make  a  creditable  show- 
ing in  all  the  subjects  of  the  new  course — then,  we  shall 
have  performed  a  distinctive  service  for  society  at  large. 
Thus  the  personality  of  the  ordinary  young  woman  of  the 
future  will  have  been  made  rich  and  deep  in  sympathy 
and  service,  full  and  strong  in  force  and  magnanimity, 
serene  and  poised  through  the  inclusion  of  the  higher 
things  of  the  spirit. 

LITERATURE  ON  HOME  AND  SCHOOL  CO-OPERATION 

Literature  of  the  Public  School  League  of  Philadelphia.  Address  Super- 
intendent of  Schools. 

Montessori  Methods.  A.  E.  Winship.  Journal  of  Education.  Vol.  75, 
p.  399.  Boston. 

What  the  Schools  Could  Do  for  the  Girls  of  To-morrow.  lOc. 
Teachers'  College,  Columbia  University,  N.  Y. 

Efficiency  of  the  City's  Girlhood.  Edith  Wilkinson.  Association 
yt  Vol.  VI.,  No.  10.  N.Y. 


Home  and  School  Co-operation  49 

The  Home  and  Social  Efficiency.  Eva  W.  White.  Journal  of  Home 
Economics.  Vol.  V,  No.  2. 

Euthenics;  Better  Environment  for  the  Human  Race.  Ellen  H.  Rich- 
ards. Chapter  II.  "Individual  Effort  Needed  to  Improve  Individ- 
ual Conditions."  162  pp.  Whitcomb  &  Barrows.  Boston. 

Human  Efficiency.  Horatio  Dresser.  Chapter  XIII,  "The  Law  of 
Love."  383pp.  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  N.  Y. 

Progress  in  the  Household.  Lucy  Maynard  Salmon.  Chapter  II, 
"Education  in  the  Household."  198  pp.  Houghton,  Mifflin  Co., 
N.Y. 

Moral  Instruction  of  Children.  Felix  Adler.  Chapter  V,  "The  Moral 
Outfit  of  Children  on  Entering  School."  270  pp.  D.  Appleton  & 
Co.,  N.  Y. 

Child  Nature  and  Child  Nurture.  Edward  Porter  St.  John.  Chapter  IV, 
"How  to  Deal  with  the  Child's  Fears."  105  pp.  The  Pilgrim 
Press,  Chicago. 

The  Century  of  the  Child.  Ellen  Key.  Chapter  VI,  "The  School  of  the 
Future."  339  pp.  G.  Putnam's  Sons,  N.  Y. 

The  Way  to  Win  the  Heart  of  the  Pupil.  Dr.  Hermann  Weimer.  Chap- 
ter IX,  "School  and  Home."  178  pp.  The  Macmillan  Co.,  N.  Y. 

The  Delinquent  Child  and  the  Home.  Sophonisba  P.  Breckinridge  and 
Edith  Abbott.  Chapter  VII,  "The  Child  from  the  Crowded  Home. 
The  Problem  of  Confusion."  250  pp.  The  Survey  Associates,  N.  Y. 

The  Home  School.  Ada  Wilson  Trowbridge.  Monograph.  Houghton, 
Mifflin  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Suggestions  for  Handwork  in  School  and  Home.  Jane  L.  Hoxie.  Entire 
text.  222  pp.  Milton  Bradley  Co.,  Springfield,  Mass. 

Messages  to  Mothers.  Herman  Partsch,  M.  D.  Chapter  VII,  "Some 
Failures  at  School."  165  pp.  Paul  Elder  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Home  and  School,  Monthly  magazine.    Philadelphia,  Pa. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  HIGH-SCHOOL  GIRL 

THE  ideal  young  girl  just  entering  high  school  is  about 
fourteen  years  of  age.  She  is  sound  in  her  physique,  sane 
in  her  quality  of  mind,  and  buoyant  in  her  thought  of  the 
future.  She  is  radiant  through  and  through  and  all  over 
with  a  life  that  is  just  now  in  process  of  unfolding  its  best 
and  most  beautiful  latent  energies.  She  is  at  this  time 
distinctively  social  in  her  thought  and  disposition.  This 
is  the  period  of  the  young  love  dreams  of  the  girl,  and  a 
time  when  her  personality,  her  point  of  view,  her  attitude 
toward  life  and  things  should  be  respected  and  deferred 
to  more  than  ever  before.  If  we  can  induce  the  reader  to 
appreciate  the  great  significance  of  the  fact  that  the 
fourteen-year-old  girl  is  undergoing  a  rapid  transforma- 
tion; that  she  is  stepping  into  a  social  world,  new,  strange 
and  very  enticing  to  her;  that  everything  she  thinks  and 
says  and  does  has  some  reference  to  this  new-found  world 
of  society — then  we  shall  all  stand  together  in  a  position 
of  great  advantage  in  our  serious  attempts  to  give  this 
young  high-school  girl  fair  counsel  and  guidance. 

THE  DANGER  OF  CONFUSION 

A  freshman  high-school  girl  is  in  the  act  of  emerging 
from  a  period  of  mere  giggling  girlhood,  and  there  is  great 
danger  of  confusing  her  girlhood  just  now  dropping  away 
and  her  young  womanhood  just  now  emerging.  We  are 
likely  at  this  time  to  require  her  to  continue  in  the  routine 
duties  that  fit  her  common-school  age  and  to  add  to  these 

50 


The  High-School  Girl  51 

the  new  requirements  suited  to  the  high-school  age.  As  a 
result  of  it  all,  not  a  little  confusion  and  unfairness  may 
obtain.  Over-work  and  over-speeding  too  often  mark  this 
first  period  of  young  womanhood  in  the  case  of  the  high- 
school  girl. 

Dr.  Wm.  P.  Northrup  of  New  York  University,  is 
quoted  at  length  by  the  Literary  Digest  (Volume  32, 
Number  11),  upon  this  subject  of  over- working  school 
girls.  He  asserts  that  in  one  month  the  New  York  clinics 
for  diseases  of  children  and  for  the  diseases  of  the  nervous 
system  "received  a  crop  of  worn-out  school-girl  neuras- 
thenics," and  by  way  of  example  on  this  subject  he  de- 
scribes a  typical  case  of  the  ambitious  student  who  is  so 
often  the  victim  of  the  strenuous  school  life: — 

"She  hurries  home  from  school,  is  never  late,  takes  a 
few  minutes  of  outdoor  play  because  some  one  else  has 
prescribed  it,  runs  home,  curls  up,  and  studies  hard  till 
the  evening  meal.  This  meal  she  engulfs  in  the  shortest 
possible  time,  slips  off  her  chair,  and  is  at  her  book  again. 
She  is  the  conscientious  pupil,  and  studies  until  some  one 
insists  on  her  going  to  bed.  .  .  .  This  audience  can 
easily  imagine  several  physiological  functions  impaired 
by  worry  and  haste,  and  some  daily  needs  possibly  post- 
poned till  Saturday  and  Sunday.  They  will  wonder  where 
the  dweller  in  crowded  districts  may,  in  such  strenuous 
life,  snatch  a  few  hours  of  tranquil,  daily  recreation  in  out- 
door sunlight.  They  may  wonder  how  the  nerves  in  this 
strenuous  existence  are  to  be  daily  completely  nourished 
and  rested.  Alas!  such  nerves  are  neither  rested  nor 
nourished,  and  they  fall  daily  further  into  arrears.  They 
may  drag  on  till  early  spring  accounting.  In  March  is 
the  Feast  of  St.  Vitus. 

"It  is  well  to  reflect  on  the  critical  physiological  changes 
which  our  little  student  between  eight  and  thirteen  years 


52  Training  the  Girl 

of  age  is  undergoing.  She  is  manufacturing  rapidly  new 
cells;  she  is  building  great  additions  in  bone,  muscle,  and 
glands;  she  is  developing,  training  and  disciplining  her 
cerebrospinal  and  sympathetic  systems;  she  is  changing 
her  milk  teeth  for  tearers  and  grinders,  preparing  for 
heartier  food.  The  adolescent  girl  is  further  developing 
a  new  function;  is  passing  from  infant  life  to  maturity;  is 
experiencing  a  change  of  such  critical  magnitude  that  all 
nature  appeals  to  the  generous  impulses  of  human  pro- 
tectors to  lighten  her  burdens,  to  safeguard  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  budding  woman  and  future  mother." 

Is  THIS  DESCRIPTION  TRUE? 

In  the  article  cited  above,  Dr.  Northrup  has  described 
so  ably  and  fittingly  the  neurasthenic  high-school  girl 
that  we  feel  justified  in  continuing  the  quotation  at  greater 
length.  He  says: — 

"Do  not  put  the  subject  away  with  the  thought  that  the 
story  of  the  overworked  and  under-nourished  growing  girl 
belongs  only  to  a  big  city,  to  the  tenements,  and  to  the 
ignorant.  Would  it  were  limited  to  the  last  named;  for 
they  are  most  teachable  and  quick  to  reform.  If  you  look 
to  your  choicest  families  you  will  often  find  them  getting 
up  late,  that  breakfast  is  late,  that  the  father  rubs  his 
swollen  eyes  and  scolds  between  his  morning  paper  and  his 
coffee  because  of  this  disagreeable  rush  and  haste.  His  last 
night's  nerves  are  disturbed  by  his  child's  early  morning 
start.  You  will  agree  with  me  that  in  many  of  your  most 
intelligent  families  the  child's  life  and  duties  are  not  the 
first  consideration  of  the  mother  or  father.  The  girl  be- 
gins her  first  strenuous  life  in  unsympathetic  surroundings, 
gets  up  a  high  degree  of  momentum  in  the  inertia.  Only 
in  Wall  Street  will  nerves  again  be  found  so  thoroughly 


The  High-School  Girl  53 

a-tingle.    If  this  be  the  case  with  our  best  families,  how 
much  more  is  it  true  of  the  crowded  tenements?" 

WHAT  is  THE  REMEDY? 

Finally,  after  a  further  description  of  how  the  over- 
strenuous  school-girl  brings  on  her  alarming  case  of  ner- 
vous excitement,  Dr.  Northrup  suggests  a  number  of  very 
sensible  remedies  in  the  following  paragraphs: — 

"Not  one  physician  here  present  but  can  easily  recall 
cases  in  which  the  girl,  after  six  hours  of  school,  practices 
one  or  two  hours  on  the  piano,  goes  to  dancing-school 
twice  a  week,  has  some  added  lesson  at  intervals.  On 
Saturdays  there  are  children's  parties,  matinees,  and 
often  children's  excursions  for  concerted  studies  of  this 
or  that.  All  these  are  well  enough,  but  they  leave  the 
girl  scarcely  any  time  for  relaxation  and  outdoor  loitering 
or  light  exercise.  From  the  first  days  of  the  term  she  has 
insufficient  sleep,  becomes  deeper  and  deeper  in  debt  to 
it,  as  a  consequence  of  becoming  more  and  more  nervous, 
more  intense,  irritable,  impatient.  .  .  . 

"The  subject  of  school  hygiene  is  large,  and  I  have  pur- 
posely refrained  from  attacking  it  as  a  whole.  Much  is 
being  thought  out  in  the  line  of  ventilation,  air  space  for 
each  pupil,  and  the  like.  My  special  interest  is  that  of 
providing  roof-gardens,  where  the  children  can  play 
games  in  an  upper  air  comparatively  free  from  dust,  from 
clangers  of  collision  and  accident  of  the  street,  and  from 
the  contact  of  vicious  and  unclean  passers;  or  worse,  those 
who  do  not  pass — loafers. 

"The  subject  of  dividing  the  time,  so  that  the  youngest 
children  shall  have  short  consecutive  hours  and  frequent 
intervals  of  air  and  exercise  needs  consideration.  This  is 
now  under  collective  investigation.  In  large  cities  where 
there  is  choice  of  two  evils  it  is  often  better  to  corral  the 


54  Training  the  Girl 

small  children  frequently  and  briefly  than  to  leave  them 
to  roll  in  tenement  halls  or  play  under  feet  in  crowded 
and  squalid  thoroughfares.  .  .  . 

"In  many  families  there  is  a  habit  of  sitting  up  late.  .  .  . 
Children  either  sit  up  with  the  adults;  or,  if  they  go  to 
bed,  their  early  sleep  is  disturbed  because  of  bright  lights, 
noise  and  confusion.  The  family  physician,  in  fathoming 
the  causes  of  failing  health,  may  well  inquire  among  the 
details  of  daily  life  for  explanation.  .  .  .  Further  causes 
of  worry  to  the  child  are  the  indiscreet  conversations  of 
the  parents.  At  breakfast  the  disgruntled  father  utters  a 
chance  remark  that  the  family  is  rapidly  nearing  the 
poorhouse,  that  all  is  lost.  Having  uttered  it,  he  goes  out 
into  the  open  air,  humming  'Annie  Rooney,'  and  quite 
forgets  what  he  has  said.  Not  so  his  little  girl.  The  un- 
meaning remark  sinks  into  her  mind,  she  broods  over  it, 
her  breakfast  does  not  digest,  she  furtively  weeps,  and  at 
night  sobs  herself  to  sleep.  This  needless  apprehension 
arises  from  a  thoughtless  remark  which  adults  would  en- 
tirely understand." 

CHOICE  OF  A  HIGH-SCHOOL  COURSE 

The  last  few  years  have  witnessed  marked  changes  and 
differentiations  in  the  high-school  course  of  study.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  there  was  as  a  rule 
only  one  secondary  course  of  study  available  for  young 
people,  and  that  consisted  of  a  traditional  arrangement  of 
Latin,  mathematics,  literature,  and  a  smattering  of  ab- 
stract science.  But  the  new  high  school  is  succeeding 
more  and  more  each  year  in  making  itself  what  it  pre- 
tends to  be,  namely,  an  institution  for  the  whole  people. 
Instead  of  one  course  as  formerly  there  are  now  many 
courses,  each  one  arranged  to  suit  the  needs  of  some  class 
of  society. 


The  High-School  Girl  55 

In  consideration  of  what  has  just  been  stated  the  parent 
cannot  reasonably  be  satisfied  with  having  merely  sent 
his  daughter  to  be  enrolled  in  the  high  school.  He  must 
help  her  decide  what  course  to  pursue,  and  in  doing  this 
he  must  consult  first  her  individual  taste  and  disposition, 
and  second,  her  probable  destiny  as  a  full  grown  woman. 
No  matter  how  attractive  the  place,  how  able  the  instruc- 
tor, and  how  well-equipped  the  school,  the  young  woman 
will  not  make  satisfactory  advancement  in  her  classes 
unless  she  be  allowed  to  pursue  some  course  that  appeals 
enticingly  to  her  inherent  interests  and  desires. 

WHAT  OF  DOMESTIC  MINDEDNESS? 

It  is  probably  a  very  serious  error  to  assume  that  every 
healthy  minded  young  woman  is  instinctively  desirous  of 
taking  up  a  course  leading  toward  domestic  life.  Although 
probably  the  great  majority  of  them  incline  more  or  less 
strongly  and  even  fondly  toward  some  phase  of  the  home- 
making  occupation,  it  has  been  proved  beyond  a  doubt 
that  a  considerable  number  are  not  instinctively  so  domes- 
tic minded.  In  his  survey  of  the  question  of  a  prospective 
vocation  for  young  women,  the  author  has  had  occasion 
to  question  in  a  systematic  way  several  hundred  girls. 
A  small  number  of  these,  perhaps  five  per  cent,  have  given 
assurance  that  their  inherent  tastes  never  have  been  of  a 
domestic  type;  and  yet  these  girls  have  always  been 
sound  and  well  physically  and  mentally.  A  typical  case 
of  the  type  of  young  woman  here  under  consideration  was 
that  of  a  twenty-year-old  college  sophomore  girl  who 
thus  far  had  resisted  all  the  persuasive  efforts  of  her  par- 
ents and  friends  to  incline  her  training  course  toward  one 
of  domesticity.  At  least,  at  that  stage  of  her  develop- 
ment she  was  still  firmly  set  in  her  purpose  to  work  out  a 
non-domestic,  independent  career.  Very  probably  to 


56  Training  the  Girl 

force  such  a  girl  to  take  up  the  home  life  would  be  little 
short  of  calamitous;  and  also  very  probably  the  carrying 
out  of  her  native  bent  and  determination  was  the  only 
certain  means  of  making  her  life  a  happy  and  successful 
one. 

THE  COURSE  IN  HOUSEHOLD  SCIENCE  AND  ART 

Notwithstanding  what  we  have  stated  immediately 
above,  every  normal  girl  should  most  probably  have  an 
opportunity  to  perfect  herself  in  household  science  and 
art.  A  wide  and  careful  observation  of  growing  girls  of 
all  ages  brings  conclusive  evidence  that  the  great  ma- 
jority of  them  begin  in  early  childhood  to  show  an  in- 
herent interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  household.  If  turned 
loose  and  allowed  to  follow  their  own  inclinations,  their 
play  and  make-believe  activities  nearly  always  confirm 
this  statement. 

But  when  confronted  with  the  taking  up  of  a  high-school 
course  in  domestic  science,  the  young  girl  may  show  an 
adverse  disposition  which  has  its  history,  not  in  her  in- 
herent nature  but  in  the  fact  that  she  has  been  more  or 
less  spoiled.  If  at  fourteen  years  of  age  the  girl  has  thus 
far  never  been  trained  in  the  simplest  household  tasks; 
if  she  has  always  been  surrounded  by  servants  and  others 
who  have  been  ever  ready  to  baby  her  and  satisfy  her 
whims;  if  she  has  been  taught  to  believe  that  household 
industry  is  degrading  and  beneath  one  of  her  station — 
in  case  of  one  or  all  of  these  acquired  dispositions,  the 
school  girl  may  assume  a  very  firm  adverse  attitude  to- 
ward the  course  in  home  economy. 

Now,  if  the  parent  of  such  a  girl  as  that  described  im- 
mediately above  feels  satisfied  that  his  daughter  will  find 
her  best  life  interest  through  the  stimulating  influence 
of  a  course  in  household  economy,  he  may  find  it  both 


The  High-School  Girl  57 

advisable  and  practicable  to  take  the  girl  to  a  school 
where  this  particular  kind  of  training  is  emphasized  above 
all  others  and  where  to  pursue  such  a  course  will  be  the 
popular  thing  to  do.  Many  a  young  girl  has  had  her 
entire  life  transformed  through  such  a  change  of  place  as 
the  one  here  recommended.  In  the  new  and  well-selected 
school  of  domestic  training  the  adolescent  girl  really  dis- 
covers another  self  than  that  upon  which  her  attention 
has  been  fixed,  and  she  soon  makes  out  a  new  and  enticing 
ideal  for  her  future  life. 

COMMON-SENSE  INSTRUCTION 

It  is  an  easy  matter  to  assemble  a  group  of  "high 
minded"  and  ambitious  high-school  girls  in  a  class  to  be 
instructed  in  fudge  making  and  presiding  at  a  pink  tea. 
Moreover,  these  forms  of  instruction  may  be  exceedingly 
important,  but  they  are  unquestionably  the  finishing 
rather  than  the  beginning  part  in  a  course  of  domestic 
economy.  But  we  take  it  that  the  serious-minded  parent 
of  the  adolescent  girl  is  anxious  to  have  the  daughter 
learn  first  of  all  the  plain,  simple  household  duties.  Plain 
cooking,  plain  sewing,  plain  serving,  and  plain  everyday 
living — these  ordinary  matters  very  probably  constitute  a 
fundamental  part  of  the  acceptable  high-school  course  for 
nearly  all  young  girls.  And  once  the  ordinary  girl  has 
had  her  life  well  defined  and  grounded  in  the  principles 
of  these  common  things  she  has  certainly  made  all  the 
necessary  beginnings  of  a  beautiful  and  happy  career. 

Yes,  there  is  ample  room  for  music  and  poetry  and 
flowers  and  fudge  parties  and  pink  teas  for  the  girl  who 
has  been  trained  and  grounded  in  plain,  ordinary  domes- 
ticity. And  what  is  better,  after  such  a  fundamental 
course  in  household  economy  there  accrues  to  the  girl 
having  mastered  the  course  such  a  sense  of  inner  worth, 


58  Training  the  Girl 

such  a  feeling  of  poise  and  self-supremacy,  such  a  direct 
means  of  detecting  and  knowing  and  recognizing  the  true 
worth  of  character  in  others,  that  her  entire  future  gives 
promise  of  becoming  one  of  great  joy  and  satisfaction. 

THE  VOCATION  NOT  OVERLOOKED 

We  shall  not  overlook  the  very  important  matter  of 
directing  the  growing  girl  toward  the  best  available  life 
occupation.  An  entire  division  of  this  volume  is  to  be 
devoted  to  that  particular  matter.  Neither  have  we  over- 
looked those  other  important  affairs  that  grow  out  of  the 
instinctive  disposition  for  play  and  sociability.  These, 
too,  will  have  ample  space  for  treatment.  For  the  present, 
however,  our  interest  is  centered  upon  two  aspects  of  the 
high-school  girl's  training:  first,  the  directing  of  her  ex- 
periences along  lines  suggested  by  her  instinctive  desires 
and  dispositions;  and  second,  the  discussion  of  those 
problems  which  arise  in  practically  all  the  high  schools 
and  vex  and  perplex  both  parents  and  teachers. 

We  can  scarcely  over-emphasize  the  distinctive  point 
of  view  and  method  of  this  volume.  It  is  this:  To  find 
what  is  inherent  in  the  young  girl's  nature  at  every  single 
stage  of  her  development  and  to  direct  her  training  along 
the  ways  suggested  by  this  instinctive  type  of  prompting. 
The  author's  faith  in  the  ordinary  girl — and  that  means 
practically  all  of  the  girls — is  very  deep  and  abiding. 
But  it  is  his  understanding  that  this  faith  in  the  inherent 
sublimity  of  the  life  of  the  common  girl  can  be  actualized 
only  through  the  application  of  sane  and  well  thought-out 
courses  of  training  to  every  stage  of  her  growth.  Play, 
industry,  sociability,  vocational  adjustment,  service  of 
one's  fellows  and  of  the  Supreme  Being — these  are  the 
great  ideals  of  training  for  any  common  life;  and  they  are 


The  High-School  Girl  59 

great  because  of  the  significant  fact  that  they  are  expres- 
sions of  the  inherent  nature  of  the  human  individual.  So, 
if  the  reader  will  bear  with  us  to  a  greater  length,  we  shall 
now  go  back  to  a  further  consideration  of  our  chapter 
topic. 

THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  MAY  NOT  FIT 

A  careful  inquiry  into  the  whole  situation  may  satisfy 
the  parent  that  it  is  inadvisable  to  send  the  daughter  to 
the  local  high  school  or  to  any  other  institution  of  its 
class.  But  such  a  decision  is  most  certainly  a  serious  one 
and  perhaps  it  should  not  be  made  until  after  expert 
advice  has  been  consulted.  The  parent  who  is  seriously 
in  doubt  as  to  the  best  thing  to  do  next  in  the  training 
of  his  adolescent  daughter  might  receive  very  valuable 
counsel  if  he  should  write  a  brief  sketch  of  the  case  and 
present  this  outline  to  such  a  high  authority  as  Dr.  G. 
Stanley  Hall,  and  ask  for  expert  opinion.  Many  high- 
school  girls  dislike  some  part  of  the  prescribed  course  of 
study,  while  not  a  few  of  them  resent  certain  text-book 
subjects  to  the  point  of  quitting  the  institution  as  an 
alternative  for  pursuing  such  courses.  Therefore,  it  is 
imperative  that  the  parent  and  teacher  co-operate  in 
bringing  about  a  pleasing  adjustment  of  the  girl  to  her 
high-school  course.  Her  instincts  and  desires  are  now  so 
strong  as  not  safely  to  permit  of  any  violence  being  done 
them  through  the  medium  of  an  artificial  and  enforced 
course  of  learning.  If  there  be  in  the  curriculum  many 
subjects  that  are  extremely  distasteful  to  the  adolescent 
girl,  probably  it  will  be  advisable  to  have  her  withdraw 
from  the  institution  and  pursue  a  short  course  in  some 
vocational-training  school  elsewhere.  The  vocational 
school  for  girls  will  be  described  in  a  chapter  to  fol- 
low. 


60  Training  the  Girl 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL 

As  stated  above,  the  adolescent  period  of  the  girl  is 
distinctively  one  of  social  awakening.  It  is  what  the 
author  has  called  the  first  "who's  who"  period  of  social 
development.  The  inner,  secret  mind  activities  of  the 
girl  are  now  predominantly  social.  This  inherent  ten- 
dency toward  sociability  has  its  correlate  in  a  number 
of  most  significant  organic  changes.  The  girl  is  enter- 
ing the  bright  bloom  of  womanhood.  The  sex  organs 
are  assuming  their  full  mature  forms.  The  strong,  fresh 
current  of  new  blood  is  coursing  through  the  organism; 
strong  psychic  feelings  now  pervade  the  entire  being; 
many  of  the  thought  processes  are  now  such  as  make  all 
things  new.  These  are  all  parts  of  those  great  living  proc- 
esses which  constitute  a  most  interesting  epoch  in  the 
miracle  of  life.  Verily,  the  world  might  worship  here  at 
this  great  shrine  of  the  adolescent  awakening;  for  all  of 
its  song  and  its  poetry,  all  of  its  sorrow  and  its  tragedy, 
all  of  its  beauty  and  its  sublimity  are  traceable  either 
directly  or  indirectly  to  this  one  mighty  divine  source! 
So  let  us  go  reverently  as  we  proceed  to  give  the  adolescent 
girl  counsel  and  direction  for  passing  through  this  exhila- 
rating course  of  mystery  and  divinity.  Let  us  go  to  her 
rather  as  a  learner  and  interpreter,  than  as  one  who  would 
drive  and  compel  her.  Appreciating  then  as  we  do  the 
point  of  view  and  the  instinctive  nature  of  the  adolescent 
girl;  knowing  as  we  certainly  must  that  her  native  and  un- 
spoiled tendency  is  to  meet  all  on  a  common  level  of  socia- 
bility, let  us  see  what  might  be  done  to  preserve  this 
beautiful  spirit  of  democracy  during  her  high-school 
career.  And  as  we  approach  our  new  task  let  us  expect 
to  find  at  first  not  a  little  that  is  crude  and  unrefined 
in  the  natural  conduct  of  the  young  girl. 


The  High-School  Girl  61 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  DEMOCRACY 

In  the  last  paragraph  above,  use  was  made  of  the  word 
"unspoiled."  Those  who  have  studied  human  life  at  its 
fountain  source  are  inclined  more  and  more  to  the  belief 
that  children  are  thoroughly  democratic  in  their  first 
social  tendencies.  They  are  instinctively  fond  of  play- 
mates but  naturally  give  little  or  no  heed  to  the  social 
rank  of  the  other  children.  The  little  daughter  of  the 
ruler  of  the  empire  or  of  the  money  king  will  play  fondly 
and  innocently  with  the  children  of  the  slums  and  alleys 
until  the  distinctions  of  dress  and  manners  have  been 
pointed  out  to  her.  One  by  one  the  flaws  and  imper- 
fections in  the  character  and  adornment  of  her  playmates 
may  be  made  known  by  the  parents  and  at  length  she 
will  have  acquired  a  body  of  social  sentiment  making  her 
conscious  of  her  particular  rank.  Social  distinctions  are 
acquired  more  readily  by  some  than  by  others  but  prob- 
ably all  have  to  be  taught  how  to  make  them. 

Now,  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  author  to  urge  that 
there  is  naturally  only  one  social  rank.  It  is  not  his  pur- 
pose to  recommend  that  the  parents  try  to  make  the  grow- 
ing daughter  continue  to  be  a  free  and  open  associate  of 
all  ranks  and  classes  of  society.  Social  sympathy  and 
genuine  good  will  to  all  is  rather  the  goal  of  our  instruc- 
tion here.  So,  if  the  high-school  girl  has  thus  far  been 
allowed  to  meet  and  greet  all  classes  freely;  if  she  has  been 
taught  to  be  courteous  and  kind  to  all;  if  she  has  been 
trained  and  disciplined  through  the  performance  of  the 
ordinary  household  industry  best  suited  to  each  year  of 
her  age  thus  far;  if  she  has  been  taught  to  understand  and 
to  appreciate  the  full  advantage  of  a  genuine  character, 
she  will  now  be  inclined  toward  democratic  conduct  in 
the  high  school. 


62  Training  the  Girl 

So  the  beginnings  of  a  substantial  democratic  character 
have  in  reality  already  been  made  before  the  high-school 
period  is  reached,  and  the  process  of  training  from  that 
period  on  consists  chiefly  in  giving  the  right  sort  of  home 
counsel.  The  home  problem  here  is  largely  one  of  inter- 
pretation. The  daughter  comes  home  with  gossip  about 
her  school.  She  naturally  has  much  more  to  say  about 
the  social  conduct  in  the  school  than  she  has  about  the 
lesson  topics.  The  parents'  chief  part  in  the  conversation 
is  that  of  reminding  the  daughter— in  indirect  ways,  of 
course — of  the  very  great  value  of  a  genuine  character 
within.  For,  after  all,  it  is  not  so  much  the  matter  of 
what  other  girls  say  and  do  as  it  is  a  question  of  what 
our  own  daughter  is  in  point  of  personal  worth. 

THE  DISCIPLINE  IN  ONE  HOME 

In  the  restrictive  part  of  a  city  of  about  250,000  people 
there  stands  a  beautiful  residence  which  must  have  cost 
$40,000  or  more.  The  place  covers  half  a  city  block 
and  has  all  the  ideal  attractive  appointments;  as,  shaded 
lawn,  flower  gardens,  servants,  automobiles,  expensive 
inside  furnishings,  and  the  like.  The  occupants  of  this 
home  consisted  recently  of  the  parents  and  three  daughters, 
two  of  the  latter  in  high  school  and  an  older  one  at  college. 
The  eldest  child,  a  son,  was  married  and  gone.  In  spite 
of  every  suggestion  of  wealth  and  refinement,  the  father 
and  mother  of  this  family  had  somehow  succeeded  in 
inculcating  a  very  rare  spirit  of  democracy  among  their 
children.  The  mother's  account  of  the  affair  is  substan- 
tially as  follows: — 

"Yes,  we  have  always  believed  in  democracy.  Mr.  B — 
and  I  were  both  born  and  reared  in  very  modest  families, 
and  we  were  taught  from  the  beginning  to  earn  our  way 


The  High-School  Girl  63 

through  hard  work.  These  early-day  lessons  have  perhaps 
helped  us  very  much  in  the  training  of  our  own  children. 
We  have  always  required  our  children  to  do  an  honest 
amount  of  work.  Our  boy,  during  his  growing  years, 
raised  a  garden  and  took  care  of  a  horse  and  a  cow.  We 
taught  him  to  buy  and  sell  and  how  to  save  a  part  of  his 
money  and  how  to  invest  a  part  in  his  own  affairs.  He  is 
now  succeeding  very  well  in  business. 

"The  girls  have  been  trained  in  practically  the  same 
way  as  the  boy.  They  have  had  instruction  in  every  part 
of  the  home  work,  from  plain  kitchen  scrubbing  to  fancy 
dining-room  serving.  Any  one  of  the  three  can  prepare  a 
first-class  meal  and  serve  it  to  any  kind  of  company. 
Our  girls  have  never  been  over-dressed.  We  have  always 
believed  extravagant  dressing  to  be  wasteful  as  well  as 
ruinous  to  character.  We  do  not  allow  the  girls  to  think 
of  wearing  anything  other  than  plain  and  simple  garments 
at  school,  the  expense  of  which  could  be  met  by  any  par- 
ents who  can  afford  to  send  their  daughters  to  high  school 
at  all. 

"The  girls  have  never  given  us  much  trouble  about 
their  social  affairs  at  the  high  school.  We  desire  to  have 
them  mingle  with  all  of  their  classmates  on  equal  terms, 
and  to  make  their  social  distinction  not  on  the  basis  of 
wealth  and  clothes,  but  merely  on  a  basis  of  personal  worth 
of  character.  One  of  the  chums  of  our  youngest  girl  is 
the  daughter  of  a  hardware  clerk  who  lives  in  a  four- 
room  rented  cottage.  The  next  older  daughter  has  close 
friendships  with  a  number  of  girls  of  about  the  same 
financial  rating.  It  has  always  been  my  personal  opinion 
that  over-dressing  and  too  much  home  leisure  are  the  chief 
causes  of  the  foolish  aristocracy  that  so  often  breaks  out 
in  the  high  school.  But  our  girls  have  suffered  from  none 
of  these  faults.'* 


64  Training  the  Girl 


THE  HIGH-SCHOOL  SECRET  SOCIETY 

The  secret  organization  has  become  such  a  perplexing 
problem  of  the  high  school  as  to  assume  the  dimension  of 
a  nation-wide  issue.  Just  now,  while  we  write,  this  very 
matter  is  seriously  disturbing  the  peace  of  a  middle- western 
city.  A  rule  of  the  school  board  forbids  membership  in 
any  secret  society  on  the  part  of  the  high-school  pupils. 
A  large  number  of  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  school  have 
just  been  found  guilty  of  violating  the  rule  and  have  been 
expelled.  The  affair  is  getting  into  the  courts.  Large 
sums  are  being  asked  as  damages  for  defamation  of  charac- 
ter. And  so  the  merry  war  goes  on  in  this  city,  very  much 
as  has  been  the  case  in  other  cities  and  towns. 

Something  is  radically  wrong  here.  There  must  be  some 
understandable  cause  for  the  bitter  contention  that  has 
been  growing  out  of  this  high-school  secret  society  in  all 
parts  of  the  country.  Many  of  the  states  have  passed 
legislative  acts  forbidding  such  societies.  A  very  large 
number  of  the  boards  of  education  of  the  cities  have  placed 
heavy  restrictions  and  penalties  upon  the  same  type  of 
organization.  Again  and  again  the  matter  has  been  car- 
ried into  the  courts;  and  in  every  case  known  to  the  author 
of  this  volume  the  decision  has  been  rendered  in  favor  of 
the  school  authorities,  and  against  the  contention  of  the 
high-school  pupils.  Worst  of  all,  the  good  name  and  the 
efficiency  of  the  high  school  have  been  very  much  jeop- 
ardized. 

KEEP  THE  DAUGHTER  OUT  OF  IT 

The  large  amount  of  recent  inquiry  and  discussion  re- 
garding the  matter  of  the  high-school  secret  society  brings 
overwhelming  evidence  in  favor  of  keeping  the  daughter 
out  of  such  an  organization.  There  doubtless  are  some  few 


The  High-School  Girl  65 

advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  membership;  but  all 
things  considered,  the  disadvantages  are  unquestionably 
much  greater. 

A  careful  examination  of  the  personnel  of  the  most  ac- 
tive leaders  in  the  high-school  secret  society  reveals  an 
interesting  situation.  These  leaders  are  very  often  con- 
stituted of  the  boys  and  girls  who  have  had  much  leisure 
and  home  spoiling,  who  have  received  too  much  and  given 
too  little.  They  are  often  those  youths  who  have  not  been 
taught  to  soil  their  hands  in  plain  work  and  industry, 
and  who  have  been  made  to  believe  that  they  are  being 
trained  away  from  earnest  toil  and  service  toward  places 
of  ease  and  supremacy.  Too  often  they  have  been  imbued 
with  the  thought  that  there  are  comparatively  few  attrac- 
tive people  in  the  world  and  that  these  belong  to  a  special 
class;  that  this  class  has  a  kind  of  inherent  right  to  be  at 
the  top  and  to  rule  and  to  walk  over  the  rights  and  feelings 
of  the  common  people.  False  notions  concerning  not  only 
industry,  but  also  wealth,  clothes,  and  society  lie  at  the 
bottom  of  this  unending  contention  over  the  high-school 
secret  society. 

The  parents  may  easily  train  their  daughter  to  experi- 
ence kindly  feelings  and  sympathy  for  all  classes  in  the 
high  school.  The  girl  may  have  her  chums  and  her  select 
groups  for  this  and  that  affair,  and  yet,  meet  all  who  are 
worthy  of  such  treatment  on  terms  of  a  common  level  of 
good  will  and  cordiality.  Thus  she  will  learn  to  believe 
that  the  best  things  in  life  should  be  and  rightfully  are 
common  property;  that  there  is  nothing  so  especially 
good  and  rare  that  needs  to  be  taken  secretly  into  the  pos- 
session of  a  few  where  it  may  be  kept  away  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  many.  No,  let  us  believe  once  for  all  that  if 
the  secret-society  problem  in  the  American  high  school  is 
ever  to  be  solved  permanently  the  parents,  and  not  the 


66  Training  the  Girl 

teachers  and  the  board  of  education,  will  solve  it.  The 
inculcation  of  the  spirit  of  work  and  industry  and  of 
the  spirit  of  plain,  wholesome  democracy,  and  all  this  in 
the  school  of  home  training — such  will  prove  to  be  the 
method  of  success;  and  great,  indeed,  will  be  the  final  gain 
for  common  humanity. 

THE  HIGH-SCHOOL  GIRL'S  CLOTHES 

Being  as  they  are  in  the  first  exuberant  social  period  of 
life,  high-school  girls  are  naturally  very  sensitive  as  to  the 
kind  and  quality  of  their  personal  adornment.  Not  a 
little  will  be  written  upon  the  question  of  the  girl's  wearing 
apparel  in  a  chapter  to  follow.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that 
the  rule  of  training  outlined  in  the  quotation  from  the 
mother  mentioned  above  may  be  regarded  as  the  only 
sound  and  commendable  one. 

LITERATURE  ON  THE  GIRL  IN  THE  HIGH   SCHOOL 

What  Teachers  Can  Do  to  Aid  Industrial  Education.    John  L.  Ketcham. 

Vocational  Education.    Vol.  I,  p.  344. 
Beginnings  of  Industrial  Education.    Paul  H.  Hanus.  Chapter  V,  "The 

Industrial  Continuation  Schools  of  Munich."    199  pp.    Houghton, 

Mifflin  Co.,  Boston. 
Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psychology.    Wm.  James.    Chapter  VIII,  "The 

Laws  of  Habit."    301  pp.    Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 
The  Spiritual  Life.    George  A.  Coe.    Chapter  I,  "A  Study  of  Religious 

Awakening."    276  pp.    Eaton  &  Mains,  N.  Y. 
The  Spirit  of  Youth  and  the  City  Streets.    Jane  Addams.    Chapter  VI, 

"The  Thirst  for  Righteousness."    162  pp.    Macmillan  Co.,  N.  Y. 
The  Home  School.     Ada  Wilson  Trowbridge.     Entire  text.     95  pp. 

Houghton,  Mifflin  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Ethics  for  Children.    Ella  Lyman  Cabot.    Sixth  Year.    254pp.    Hough- 
ton,  Mifflin  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Happy  School  Days.    Margaret  E.  Sangster.    Chapter  XVIII,  "Home 

Study."    271  pp.    Forbes  &  Co.,  Chicago. 
Girl  and  Woman.     Caroline  Wormeley  Latimer,  M.  D.     Chapter  X, 

"  Daily  Life  on  Leaving  School."    318  pp.   D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 


The  High-School  Girl  67 

"Fact  and  Comment."    The  School  Journal.    Vol.  LXXX,  No.  9.    N.  Y. 

Women's  Health  and  How  to  Take  Care  of  It.  Florence  Stackpoole. 
Entire  text.  159pp.  William  R.  Jenkins  Co.,  N.  Y. 

The  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom.  Vol.  V,  No.  10.  "  Vocational  and  Moral 
Guidance  in  the  High  School."  Jesse  B.  Davis.  The  American 
Institute  of  Social  Service,  N.  Y. 

Bedrock.  Education  and  Employment  the  Foundation  of  the  Republic. 
Annie  L.  Diggs.  Entire  text.  70  pp.  The  Social  Center  Publish- 
ing Co.,  Detroit,  Mich. 

The  Woman  Citizen's  Library.  Shailer  Mathews,  editor.  12  volumes, 
illustrated.  The  Civics  Society,  Chicago. 


CHAPTER  VI 
SENDING  THE  DAUGHTER  TO  COLLEGE 

WITH  an  overflowing  measure  of  physical  strength, 
with  a  radiant  hope  set  high  on  the  ideals  of  the  future, 
with  a  secret  sense  of  the  charms  peculiar  to  the  first  full 
bloom  of  womanhood,  the  typical  freshman  college  girl 
ranks  in  a  class  by  herself.  Moreover,  we  might  as  well 
admit  that  the  college  girl  is  here  to  stay  and  that  her 
tribe  is  likely  to  go  on  steadily  increasing.  Statistics 
widely  gathered  indicate  that  college  attendance  is  not 
necessarily  destructive  to  her  health,  that  such  experience, 
while  it  tends  to  defer  the  day  of  her  marriage  and  to 
reduce  the  number  of  her  offspring,  greatly  increases  her 
opportunities  for  marrying  well.  Her  means  of  inde- 
pendent self-support,  though  at  best  very  much  limited, 
are  also  much  enhanced  through  higher  education. 

CHOOSING  THE  RIGHT  INSTITUTION 

Of  the  many  present-day  forms  of  higher  institutions  of 
learning  which  admit  women  to  their  halls,  the  so-called 
co-educational  school  is  apparently  destined  to  assume 
the  leading  place.  And  well  it  may;  for  the  scriptural 
saying  that  it  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone  applies  with 
equal  significance  to  young  women  at  college.  That  is 
to  say,  our  modern  society  is  inclining  more  and  more  to 
a  general  and  free  association  of  the  sexes.  The  lower 
grades  of  the  public  schools  are  now  thoroughly  committed 
to  the  practice  of  educating  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  same 
class  room.  Likewise,  the  standard  high  schools  of  the 

68 


Sending  the  Daughter  to  College  69 

country  receive  the  two  sexes  on  equal  terms,  but  segre- 
gate them  in  a  number  of  the  classes,  giving  each  division 
the  forms  of  instruction  peculiar  to  its  needs.  While  a 
few  of  the  great  colleges  of  the  country — Harvard  being  a 
notable  example — are  still  closed  to  women,  the  great 
majority  of  these  institutions  now  provide  a  curriculum 
admitting  of  a  three-fold  arrangement  as  follows:  (1)  A 
large  number  of  general  and  cultural  courses  open  alike  to 
both  sexes  and  under  the  same  instruction;  (2)  technical 
and  special  courses  intended  to  prepare  men  for  their  ap- 
pointed vocations;  (3)  special  and  separate  courses  suited 
to  the  needs  and  natures  of  women.  In  an  institution  of 
this  sort  the  sexes  usually  mingle  on  free  and  open  terms 
of  sociability  and  friendship.  Now,  this  last  stated  fact 
counts  for  very  much  in  the  life  of  the  man  or  woman 
to  be,  as  we  shall  try  to  indicate. 

There  are  a  few  parents  who  so  misjudge  their  children 
as  to  believe  that  an  exclusive  school  for  young  women, 
in  some  isolated,  out  of  the  way  place,  will  cause  their 
daughter  to  forget  her  passionate  fondness  for  the  society 
of  young  men  and  to  settle  down  as  a  sober-minded  work- 
a-day  member  of  the  social  community.  But  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  author  this  plan  is  a  very  poor  one  to  follow. 
A  reconstructed  and  safe-guarded  society  at  the  co- 
educational school  is  better  for  bringing  out  a  rightly 
balanced  personality  than  is  the  exclusive  institution.  So 
we  believe,  and  the  discussion  to  follow  will  give  sugges- 
tions for  the  social  direction  of  the  college  girl. 

SELECTING  THE  COURSE  OF  STUDY 

As  was  recommended  for  the  high-school  girl,  so  is  it 
now  urged  in  behalf  of  the  college  girl,  that  she  be  given 
every  reasonable  opportunity  to  pursue  a  course  in  the 
household  sciences  and  arts.  In  a  graduating  class  at  the 


70  Training  the  Girl 

Kansas  State  Agricultural  College  in  which  there  were 
seventy-five  women,  seventy  finished  the  course  in  domes- 
tic science  and  art,  and  five  the  course  in  general  science. 
This  is  a  ratio  of  one  to  fourteen,  and  it  is  probably  a  fair 
index  of  the  ratio  that  exists  in  other  institutions.  A 
somewhat  careful  inquiry  into  the  motives  and  purposes 
of  the  girls  who  pursue  the  general  science  course  has  con- 
vinced the  author  that  these  girls  are  not  at  all  eager  for 
the  household  and  home-life  occupations.  They  are  as  a 
rule  more  or  less  interested  in  a  career  that  makes  for 
higher  scholarship  and  independent  self-support.  But 
these  are  only  exceptions  to  a  general  rule  among  college 
women,  which  shows  an  instinctive  interest  in  the  home 
life.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  modern  course  in  home 
economics  is  preparing  so  many  young  women  for  scien- 
tific home  management,  and  the  parent  who  gives  his 
daughter  the  advantage  of  such  a  course  should  learn  to 
think  of  her,  not  as  one  destined  to  take  up  the  old- 
fashioned  household  drudgery,  but  rather  as  one  pre- 
paring for  a  place  of  mastery  and  supremacy  over  these 
things. 

Presumably  the  freshman  girl  has  not  yet  experienced 
the  awakening  of  many  of  her  best  latent  dispositions. 
She  is  in  every  sense  a  girl,  but  is  by  no  means  a  complete 
woman.  While  it  is  advisable  to  have  her  take  the  train- 
ing in  domestic  science  and  art,  this  work  should  not 
constitute  all  of  the  course.  Many  of  the  institutions 
offer  a  so-called  short  course  in  domestic  economy,  but 
this  is  intended  primarily  for  mature  women,  who  are 
either  occupying  home  positions  or  who  are  about  to  do 
so.  The  ideal  course  in  homemaking,  so  far  as  the  girl  of 
freshman  age  is  concerned,  is  a  course  which  includes  many 
collateral  subjects.  Advanced  history,  civics,  economics, 
literature,  language,  psychology,  sociology,  music,  physical 


Sending  the  Daughter  to  College  71 

training — these  subjects  are  all  properly  related  to  the 
ideal  college  course  for  young  women. 

If  your  daughter  does  not  seem  ready  or  willing  to  pur- 
sue the  course  in  homemaking,  then  make  careful  inquiry 
as  to  her  leading  aptitude  and  interest.  She  may  have  a 
very  strong  predilection  for  music,  painting,  journalism, 
mathematics,  physical  science,  or  teaching.  It  will  prove 
futile  to  try  to  make  her  what  she  does  not  instinctively 
desire  to  become.  Rather  seek  to  bring  out  and  develop 
to  a  higher  degree  her  best  inherent  abilities.  Therefore, 
choose  the  course  to  fit  your  daughter's  nature,  but  do 
not  turn  her  undirected  into  a  large  institution  and  expect 
her  naturally  to  find  her  way  successfully  through  the 
most  appropriate  course  of  training. 

THE  DANGER  PERIOD  AT  COLLEGE 

After  admitting  that  we  are  gradually  finding  the  mod- 
ern college  course  a  better  way  to  the  solution  of  women's, 
as  well  as  men's  problems,  it  is  none  the  less  true  that 
this  way  is  still  attended  by  many  dangers  to  the  character 
of  the  student.  So  it  might  be  well  to  point  out  some  of 
the  possible  errors  into  which  the  college  girl  is  prone  to 
fall  and,  if  possible,  to  suggest  a  way  of  escape  therefrom. 

A  few  young  women  are  still  in  the  silly  age  when  they 
first  arrive  at,  the  college  doors.  Indeed,  it  is  almost 
startling  to  observe  the  large  number  of  college  girls  who 
are  still  in  their  middle  teens  and  not  yet  through  with 
their  period  of  giggling  young  girlhood — too  much  unde- 
veloped to  judge  safely  as  to  what  were  good  to  do  in 
respect  to  their  mental,  moral,  and  physical  well-being. 
And  then,  one  wonders  if  each  of  these  girls  has  a  mother, 
or  at  least  some  capable  person  who  is  exerting  a  subtle, 
wholesome  influence  on  her  life. 

Girls  mature  earlier  than  boys.    The  young  woman  of 


72  Training  the  Girl 

eighteen  is  relatively  as  well  developed  mentally  and 
physically  as  the  young  man  of  twenty-one.  And  then 
since  women's  opportunities  for  obtaining  suitable  life 
work  are  much  more  limited  both  in  extent  and  time  than 
are  man's,  there  is  apparent  necessity  for  some  haste  in 
putting  the  young  woman  through  her  course  of  college 
training.  Seventeen  or  eighteen  is  probably  the  ideal  age 
for  the  girl  to  enter  the  freshman  college  class,  as  this  will 
bring  her  out  at  about  the  age  of  twenty-one  or  twenty- 
two. 

A  CHANGE  IN  ATTITUDE  OF  MIND 

It  is  exceedingly  important  that  especially  the  last 
year  of  the  young  woman's  life  in  college  should  be  one  of 
much  thought  in  regard  to  her  future  place  in  society. 
Indeed,  if  she  continues  to  be  a  mere  girl  during  the  last 
course  of  training  she  will  likely  leave  the  college  walls 
without  having  properly  assimilated  the  knowledge  ob- 
tained. Not  infrequently  girls  who  receive  their  college 
degrees  at  the  age  of  nineteen  or  twenty  have  the  peculiar 
experience  of  awakening  a  year  or  two  latter  to  the  thought 
of  what  it  was  all  about.  "I  wish  I  could  take  my  college 
course  again,"  said  one.  "If  I  could  go  back  for  a  year 
or  two  you  would  see  me  doing  differently, "  said  another. 
The  foregoing  remarks  are  typical  of  thousands  who  were 
graduated  before  they  became  real  women,  and  before 
their  thoughts  became  instinctively  directed  toward  the 
larger  problems  of  womanhood.  "Home-mindedness"  is 
the  significant  term  that  suggests  itself  here.  The  young 
woman  who  partly  forgets  the  mere  fun  and  frolic  of  the 
college  society,  who  reflects  deeply  and  secretly  upon  her 
place  in  life,  and  who  is  concerned  about  what  she  is  to 
be  and  to  do  to  prove  worthy  of  that  place — this  girl, 
it  may  be  said,  is  in  the  right  attitude  of  mind  to  obtain  the 


Sending  the  Daughter  to  College  73 

greatest  assistance  from  her  senior  year  in  the  institution. 
Home-mindedness  is  therefore  the  watchword  for  the 
senior  girl.  We  commend  this  ideal  to  all  parents  who 
are  earnestly  engaging  in  the  attempt  to  assist  their  daugh- 
ter to  make  the  college  life  count  for  most  as  a  prepara- 
tion for  her  own  future. 

PLAYING  FAIR  WITH  THE  FRESHMAN  GIRL 

One  of  the  dangers  that  beset  the  more  or  less  giddy 
young  freshman  girl  is  this:  She  is  naturally  inclined  to 
take  up  with  almost  any  well-dressed  young  man  who 
will  indicate  a  desire  to  know  her.  Her  whole  being  is 
so  aflame  with  the  onward  rush  of  physical  life  that  the 
regular  work  of  the  class  room  may  not  appear  to  her  as  a 
matter  of  serious  consequence.  Love  is  her  greatest 
reality.  The  society  of  young  men — not  necessarily  very 
choice  ones — is  her  greatest  delight.  And  at  this  time, 
if  ever  in  her  life,  she  needs  a  ruler,  a  kind  and  sympathetic, 
but  firm  and  unyielding  personality  to  direct  her  footsteps 
aright. 

How  many  good  and  efficient  home  mothers  fail  in  their 
efforts  at  long-distance  government  of  their  daughters  at 
college!  So  if  the  absent  girl  in  such  a  case  be  young  and 
immature,  we  can  think  of  nothing  better  than  that  the 
parent  arrange  for  a  confidential  correspondence  with 
some  one  of  wholesome  authority  and  influence,  who 
knows  personally  of  the  daughter's  going  and  coming 
while  in  college.  Indeed  it  may  be  said  that  every  young 
girl  living  away  from  home  is  in  need  of  a  foster-mother. 
It  is  hoped  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  college 
authorities  will  see  fit  to  select  officially  a  "Mother,"  in 
the  person  of  some  well- trained,  sweet-spirited  woman  to 
whom  the  girls  may  go  with  their  problems  and  perplexi- 


74  Training  the  Girl 

ties  and  receive  that  particular  advice  and  encouragement 
which  any  case  may  require.  Such  a  woman  should  be 
an  ex-teacher  and  a  mother  of  children  of  her  own. 

Probably  the  chief  difficulty  in  selecting  the  "college 
mother"  for  your  absent  daughter  is  that  of  finding  a 
woman  who  possesses  the  peculiar  marks  of  fitness.  For 
the  younger  and  more  frivolous  your  daughter  may  be, 
the  greater  the  need  of  an  associate  who  is  prepared  to 
give  sympathetic  counsel  and  advice  rather  than  one 
who  is  ready  to  force  her  decisions  upon  the  conduct  of 
the  young  girl.  In  suggesting  this  woman  adviser  for  the 
girl  we  would  not  forget  the  very  important  principle 
stated  in  the  beginning  of  this  volume  and  adhered  to, 
we  hope,  thus  far — the  principle  that  the  inner  prompting 
of  the  young  girl's  nature  is  to  be  the  guide  and  inspiration 
for  her  development.  Hence,  the  suitable  foster-mother 
will  hang  every  desire,  new  motive  and  incentive  some- 
where upon  the  instinctive  cravings  of  the  girl  student 
under  her  protective  care.  This  good  adviser  will  not  con- 
demn or  blame  or  otherwise  attempt  to  force  her  per- 
sonality directly  in  the  way  of  the  college  girl's  instinctive 
purpose.  Rather  she  will  use  mild  persuasion  and  point 
the  way  out  to  something  better  and  higher  than  the  object 
pursued  by  her  youthful  companion.  For  example,  the 
college  girl  is  often  inclined  to  be  out  too  much  at  night 
and  to  go  into  associations  that  are  not  highly  creditable. 
The  wrong  method  of  dealing  with  such  a  case  would  be 
to  condemn  the  course  openly  and  to  write  an  alarming 
letter  to  the  girl's  parents.  A  better  way  would  be  to 
reveal  to  the  erring  one  a  detailed  outline  of  the  social 
course  pursued  by  the  best  girls  in  the  college.  Show  how 
these  ideal  young  women  attempt  to  follow  a  systematic 
plan,  how  they  remain  at  their  rooms  during  the  majority 
of  the  evenings  for  study  and  work,  how  they  are  over- 


Sending  the  Daughter  to  College  75 

guarded  in  respect  to  the  choice  of  their  social  companions, 
and  the  like. 

The  next  step  in  a  better  course  of  procedure  for  the 
weak-willed  college  girl  toward  a  more  elevating  and 
stable  plane  of  conduct  would  be  to  assist  her  in  finding 
congenial  company  at  the  better  places  in  society.  It 
often  matters  much  as  to  how  the  young  student  gets 
started  in  his  social  experiences.  A  well-thought-out  plan 
for  bringing  such  a  student  into  social  groups  that  are 
directed  by  the  church  and  the  young  people's  Christian 
organizations  is  a  most  commendable  affair. 

THE  COLLEGE  HOME  FOR  GIRLS 

A  suitable  place  for  the  daughter  at  college  is  a  matter 
of  extreme  importance.  The  dormitory  system  for  girls 
seems  to  be  coming  more  than  ever  into  use  of  late,  and 
it  may  be  regarded  with  much  favor.  The  fact  that  the 
youthful  freshman  girl  rooms  with  "one  of  the  best  families 
in  town"  is  no  guarantee  that  this  good  home  environment 
restrains  her  properly.  It  has  been  shown  beyond  a  doubt 
that  these  "best  families"  usually  hesitate  to  exercise 
any  moral  supervision  over  the  girl  roomer  so  long  as  her 
conduct  does  not  reflect  much  public  discredit  upon  their 
house. 

The  desirability  of  a  girl's  dormitory  depends  upon  its 
management — whether  it  be  for  mere  revenue  or  for  the 
well-being  of  the  whole  girl.  A  small,  sanitary  dormitory, 
in  charge  of  a  competent,  motherly  matron,  and  regulated 
by  the  strict  enforcement  of  a  set  of  reasonable  rules,  is 
certainly  a  favorable  situation  for  the  frivolous  sort  of 
young  college  girl.  Unfortunately  the  parent  cannot  be 
fully  assured  from  the  catalogue  description  of  the  dormi- 
tory and  its  management  whether  or  not  the  place  is 
altogether  a  desirable  one  as  a  college  home  for  the  daugh- 


76  Training  the  Girl 

ter.  As  a  means  of  emphasizing  what  was  said  above — 
about  giving  the  girl  a  very  careful  beginning  in  her  college 
career — it  is  here  recommended  that  one  of  the  parents 
accompany  the  daughter  to  the  school  and  assist  in  secur- 
ing board  and  lodgings  under  the  most  desirable  conditions 
possible.  It  is  a  beautiful  thing  to  witness,  that  of  an 
innocent  and  somewhat  unpretentious  seventeen-year-old 
freshman  girl  appearing  about  the  campus  for  the  first 
few  days  with  her  mother  as  an  attendant.  Only  mothers 
can  know  the  anxiety  of  a  mother's  heart  at  this  time, 
and  those  who  have  witnessed  the  spoiling  of  a  promising 
young  girlhood  through  careless  college  treatment  can 
realize  the  full  measure  of  responsibility  that  rests  upon 
all  concerned  in  such  a  case.  So  it  is  well,  indeed,  for  the 
mother  to  go  to  the  college  with  her  daughter  and  live 
there  with  her  during  the  first  week.  Such  a  thing  seals 
the  bond  of  intimacy  between  the  two,  and  furnishes  a 
common  basis  for  much  of  the  written  correspondence  to 
follow. 

THE  LETTERS  FROM  HOME 

Probably  there  is  no  more  beautiful  and  touching  trans- 
action between  two  members  of  any  family  than  occurs 
in  case  of  the  correspondence  between  the  daughter  at 
college  and  the  parents  at  home.  More  frequently  the 
home  correspondent  is  the  mother,  but  there  is  no  just 
reason  why  the  father,  too,  should  not  participate  in 
this  stimulating  love-letter  affair.  "Yes,  we  miss  our 
girl  very  much,  especially  evenings,  the  time  when  she 
is  always  at  her  brightest  and  best  among  the  family 
at  home.  But  you  should  read  some  of  the  beautiful  let- 
ters we  receive  from  her.  We  know  that  something  un- 
usual has  happened  if  there  fails  to  come  in  the  Monday 
evening  mail  a  letter  from  Elsie.  Really,  we  did  not 


Sending  the  Daughter  to  College  77 

how  to  appreciate  her  until  she  went  away  to  college." 
Such  a  testimonial  as  that  quoted  above  speaks  volumes 
in  its  ultimate  meaning,  for  it  serves  as  an  assurance  that 
the  daughter  is  safe  at  college  and  that  her  progress  there 
is  such  as  to  please  and  inspire  all  those  remaining  at  home. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  said  that  there  is  something 
seriously  at  fault  in  case  the  daughter  does  not  send  home 
often  and  regularly  through  the  mails,  a  message  of  love  and 
good  cheer.  And  in  case  of  a  permanent  correspondence 
in  the  course  of  which  love  and  sympathy  and  open  frank- 
ness prevail  on  the  part  of  both  parent  and  daughter, 
there  is  no  serious  necessity  of  a  well-guarded  college  home 
for  the  girl.  The  commendable  purposes  of  the  student  are 
too  well  set  to  require  any  direction  or  restraint  other 
than  that  incident  to  respectable  surroundings. 

THE  COLLEGE  SORORITY 

The  results  of  a  number  of  inquiries  indicate  that  the 
sorority  house  is  a  safer  place  for  the  freshman  girl  than 
the  fraternity  house  is  for  the  freshman  boy,  although 
both  are  inadvisable  until  one  has  made  a  worthy  record 
in  studentship  and  morals.  Perhaps  the  worst  that  can 
be  charged  against  the  college  sorority  is  its  tendency  to 
exclusiveness  and  to  build  up  a  caste  system  and  to  impose 
financial  and  social  strains  upon  its  members. 

The  sentiment  of  this  volume  is  intended  to  be  distinctly 
democratic.  Although  it  must  be  admitted  that  every 
girl  will  naturally  have  her  little  group  of  confidential 
friends  and  companions,  there  is  no  very  just  reason  why 
these  should  go  aside  and  shut  themselves  in  and  bind 
one  another  into  a  group  with  pledges  of  secrecy.  Indeed, 
goodness  and  beauty  lose  their  very  essence  if  we  try  to 
take  them  for  our  own  selfish  purposes  and  seclude  them 
from  the  eyes  of  the  others.  Is  it  not  true  in  a  sense  that 


78  Training  the  Girl 

the  good  things,  this  highly  prized  stock  of  secret  pledges 
and  purposes  which  supposedly  binds  the  members  of  the 
sorority  together — is  it  not  true  that  these  precious  things 
would  grow  even  more  precious  were  they  extended  openly 
as  a  gracious  gift  to  all  who  might  wish  them?  Our  chief 
objection  to  the  sorority  is  that  it  is  both  ungenerous  and 
undemocratic.  It  does  not  intend  to  offend  the  sensi- 
bilities of  the  girls  who  are  not  included  within  its  little 
coterie,  but  as  a  matter  of  actual  practice  it  does  this  very 
thing  in  a  thousand-and-one  instances  during  the  course 
of  the  college  year. 

No,  the  foregoing  statement  is  not  intended  as  a  word 
of  condemnation  for  the  sorority,  but  it  is  admittedly 
intended  as  a  word  of  admonition  to  the  parent.  Keep 
your  daughter  out  of  the  sorority,  if  you  can.  Make  her 
democratic  and  generous-hearted,  responding  kindly  and 
affectionately  in  thought  of  all  whom  she  may  meet  on 
the  campus  or  off  of  it.  Say  to  her  that  you  mean  to  have 
her  become  a  beautiful  companion  and  social  servant  of 
all  the  divisions  and  classes  of  society,  rather  than  of  any 
one  of  these. 

HEALTH-IMPAIRING  TRAINING  AND  EXERCISE 

Considering  the  outside  duties  that  claim  the  girl's 
time,  the  college  career  as  a  whole  imposes  many  strains 
upon  her  health.  While  statisticians  have  figured  it  out 
that  a  young  woman  in  college  is  as  healthy  in  the  average 
case  as  her  non-attending  sister — and  she  is  probably 
much  more  so  at  the  time  of  beginning  her  course — her 
health  is  often  impaired  during  the  four-year  period  of 
academic  work.  Hence  the  necessity  of  extreme  caution 
in  reference  to  overburdening  the  young  woman  student. 

It  is  not  to  be  disputed  that  some  of  the  most  earnest 
and  worthy  college  girls  need  protection  against  self- 


Sending  the  Daughter  to  College  79 

imposed  over-strains.  They  try  to  carry  too  heavy  an 
assignment,  and  also  to  perform  too  many  extra  duties. 
In  the  first  place,  the  class  work  assigned  is  such  as  to 
occupy  about  all  the  waking  hours  of  the  day,  if  done 
well.  Then,  on  top  of  this  are  piled  the  dance  or  party 
once  a  week,  the  literary  society,  the  athletic  work,  the 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association  meeting  and  com- 
mittee work,  attendance  upon  the  lecture  course,  and  a 
hundred  and  one  smaller  duties  pertaining  to  the  care  of 
the  person  and  the  clothes. 

Under  the  stress  of  all  the  foregoing  rush  and  hurry 
something  must  naturally  break,  and  the  physical  health 
is  not  unusually  the  victim.  From  all  outward  appear- 
ances, the  mid-week  party,  especially  the  dancing  party, 
is  hard  on  college  girls.  As  a  result  of  the  tax  on  the 
physical  strength,  many  young  women  are  compelled  to 
stay  away  from  classes  the  day  following.  On  the  second 
day  they  return  pale  and  wan  and  absent-minded.  Col- 
lege authorities  should  insist  that  these  parties  be  con- 
fined to  the  end  of  the  week,  so  that  time  may  be  allowed 
for  recovery.  But  it  is  not  so  much  any  certain  one  of  the 
matters  named  as  it  is  the  sum  of  them  that  breaks  down 
the  physique  and  brings  on  mental  distraction.  Worst  of 
all,  many  good  girls  are  utterly  unable  to  protect  them- 
selves against  the  strain  of  the  multitude  of  demands 
upon  their  time.  So,  it  is  unquestionably  the  duty  of  the 
college  authorities  and  the  parents  to  see  that  proper 
restraints  and  regulations  are  operative  in  the  matter. 

SHALL  THE  YOUNG  WOMAN  EARN  HER  WAY 

For  thirteen  years  past  the  author  has  been  observing 
closely  the  efforts  of  a  considerable  number  of  young 
women  college  students  who  earn  their  way  wholly  or  in 
part  while  pursuing  the  course.  As  a  rule,  the  attempt  of 


80  Training  the  Girl 

the  young  woman  wholly  to  pay  her  own  way  through 
college  is  a  more  or  less  hazardous  affair.  Some  few  ac- 
complish this  undertaking  and  come  out  stronger  and 
more  triumphant  because  of  the  rigorous  discipline  con- 
nected therewith,  but  in  regard  to  the  majority  a  report  so 
favorable  cannot  be  given.  Unfortunately  in  many  of 
the  instances  of  young  women  working  their  way  the 
parents  are  amply  able  to  pay  all  the  college  expense  but 
are  not  considerate  enough  to  do  so.  Ignorance,  penuri- 
ousness,  and  a  false  opinion  as  to  what  the  college  training 
of  a  young  woman  really  means,  may  be  attributed  as 
causes  of  the  parental  mistreatment  here. 

Let  not  our  position  be  misunderstood  regarding  the 
matter  of  the  college  girl  earning  her  way.  It  is  this:  If 
the  father  is  amply  able  to  supply  the  necessary  means 
for  his  daughter's  college  training  and  neglects  to  do  so, 
some  one  should  have  the  courage  to  take  him  to  task 
about  the  matter.  An  interesting  and  blame-worthy  case 
illustrative  of  the  point  here  is  that  of  a  dry-goods  mer- 
chant, worth  perhaps  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  and 
prosperous  to  the  point  of  being  entirely  free  from  in- 
debtedness. The  family  of  which  he  was  head  was  rearing 
four  daughters.  The  father  contended  that  a  daughter 
should  earn  her  own  way  after  reaching  the  high  school 
age.  He  himself  had  done  so  from  boyhood.  He  required 
his  daughters  to  earn  enough  for  their  spending  money 
and  some  extra  clothing  while  in  the  high  school  and  an- 
nounced the  policy  of  requiring  them  to  make  their  own 
way  through  college,  if  they  wished  to  attend.  These 
girls  proved  to  be  most  courageous.  The  eldest  struggled 
through  her  four-year  course  in  five  years,  but  she  come 
out  broken  in  health  from  the  over-strain  of  doing  a  double 
combined  duty  of  college  work  and  housework.  She  was 
also  much  broken  in  spirit  because  of  the  fact  that  she 


Sending  the  Daughter  to  College  81 

was  forced  again  and  again  to  slip  back  and  to  be  gradu- 
ated a  year  behind  her  own  classmates.  The  second 
daughter  tried  the  unsupported  college  career  for  one  year 
and  gave  it  up,  being  forced  to  take  a  rather  menial  posi- 
tion for  self-support.  This  was  really  a  pitiable  and  ag- 
gravating case  and  the  more  so  because  of  the  father's 
condition  and  attitude  as  stated  above. 

It  is  often  justifiable  to  arrange  matters  so  that  the 
young  woman  may  earn  a  part  of  her  college  expense 
money.  She  may  help  in  some  good  home  as  a  means  of 
paying  for  her  board  and  lodging.  But  as  a  rule  this 
arrangement  should  be  regarded  as  the  upper  limit  for 
self-support  of  the  college  young  woman.  The  home  help- 
ing contract  should  include  a  statement  as  to  the  amount 
and  time  of  the  service. 

One  of  the  most  serious  consequences  of  this  program  of 
entire  self-support  on  the  part  of  the  college  girl  is  this: 
She  is  denied  nearly  all  of  the  privileges  of  the  college  so- 
ciety; she  loses  touch  with  the  young  men  and  young 
women  of  her  class,  and  tends  to  fall  into  the  habit  of 
being  sensitive  about  her  appearance  and  manners  in 
public.  Worse  than  all  the  foregoing,  she  is  likely  to  lose 
what  is  perhaps  the  most  valuable  opportunity  of  all — 
that  of  coming  into  close  acquaintanceship  with  some  good, 
sensible  college  man,  who  in  due  time  may  ask  her  to  walk 
the  way  of  life  at  his  side.  No,  if  it  can  at  all  be  avoided, 
do  not  permit  the  young  daughter  to  attempt  to  earn  all 
the  money  necessary  for  supporting  her  during  her  four 
years'  stay  at  the  institution. 


82  Training  the  Girl 

LITERATURE  ON  SENDING  THE  DAUGHTER  TO  COLLEGE 

Vocations  Open  to  College  Women.  Pamphlet.  University  of  Min- 
nesota, Minneapolis. 

Ethics  of  the  Social  Relationships  of  College  Life.  Association  Monthly. 
Vol.  VII.  No.  4.  N.  Y. 

Tests  of  College  Efficiency.  Edwin  F.  Gay.  School  Review.  Vol.  XX, 
p.  335. 

The  American  College.  Abraham  Flexner.  Entire  text.  237  pp.  The 
Century  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Progress  in  the  Household.  Lucy  Maynard  Salmon.  Chapter  III,  "The 
Relation  of  College  Women  to  Domestic  Service."  198  pp.  Hough- 
ton,  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston. 

Girls  and  Education.  L.  B.  R.  Briggs,  Entire  text.  162  pp.  Houghton, 
Mifflin  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Working  One's  Way  Through  College  and  University.  Calvin  Dill 
Wilson.  Chapter  VI,  '?T\^ays  by  which  Young  Women  Earn  Money 
while  in  College."  380  pp.  A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co.,  Chicago. 

The  Freshman  and  His  College.  Francis  Cummins  Lockwood.  p.  43, 
"How  to  Study."  156pp.  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.,  Boston. 

Personal  Hygiene  and  Physical  Training  for  Women.  Anna  M.  Gal- 
braith,  M.  D.,  Chapter  VI,  "The  Hygiene  of  the  Mind  and  its  Rela- 
tion to  the  Physical  Health."  352  pp.  W.  B.  Sanders  &  Co.,  Phila- 
delphia. 

Boys,  Girls  and  Manners.  Florence  Howe  Hall.  Chapter  XVI,  "  Man- 
ners at  Women's  Colleges."  323  pp.  Dana  Estes  &  Co.,  Boston. 

Talks  to  Women  on  Essentials  to  Success  in  the  Business  World.  Cora 
Ball  Frazier.  Chapter  I,  "Dress  and  Personal  Habits."  116  pp. 

Palmer-Goodman  Co.,  Philadelphia. 

Girl  and  Woman.  Caroline  Wormeley  Latimer,  M.  D.  Chapter  VIII, 
"Personal  Hygiene."  318pp.  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  N.  Y. 

The  Common  Interests  of  Parents  and  Teachers,  p.  263.  The  Play- 
ground, Vol.  V.,  No.  8.  N.  Y. 

Educational  Foundations.    A  Monthly  Magazine  of  Pedagogy.    N.  Y. 


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Industrial  Training  of  the  Boy 

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There  is  no  more  important  phase  of  boy  training  than  that 
which  is  the  subject  of  this  book.  Professor  McKeever  has  ably 
demonstrated  his  ability  to  get  the  point  of  view  of  both  the 
adult  and  of  the  child.  His  sympathy  and  understanding  of  the 
boy  and  his  mature  appreciation  of  those  things  which  make  for 
the  well-rounded  life  peculiarly  fit  him  for  the  task  which  he  has 
essayed  in  the  present  volume.  The  Pre-School  Development, 
The  Public  School  and  Adjustment,  Vacation  Employment,  Se- 
rious Industrial  Employment,  and  Sending  the  Youth  to  College 
are  the  main  heads  into  which  the  concise  but  wholly  adequate 
discussion  is  divided. 


"  Parents  will  find  here  many  excellent  suggestions  for  the  ap- 
portionment of  the  work  and  play  of  children  of  all  ages  and  for 
the  kinds  of  work  to  be  used  for  the  individual  training  of  boys 
of  different  temperaments."  —  Congregationalist. 

"  On  every  page  the  author  proves  himself  master  of  his  sub- 
ject.1'—  Watchman-Examiner. 

"  It  discusses  frankly,  courageously,  and  wisely  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  efficiency  in  fitting  boys  for  efficiency  in  the  life  they  may 
lead  if  at  their  best." — Journal  of  Education,  Boston. 

"A  timely  and  thoroughly  pedagogical  and  scientific  work. 
...  Sound  wisdom,  born  of  ripe  and  serious  experience  ...  is 
invaluable." —  Churchman. 

"  It  will  help  you  to  work  out  a  great  many  things  and  prob- 
lems that  you  now  find  yourself  up  against  in  regard  to  your 
boys." — Ohio  Farmer. 


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Farm  Boys  and  Girls 

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Comments  on  ' '  Farm  Boys  and  Girls  ' ' 

"  From  the  point  of  view  of  life,  it  is  the  most  notable  and  useful  contribu- 
tion ever  made  to  agricultural  literature."  —  DE  WITT  C.  WING,  Associate 
Editor  The  Breeder's  Gazette,  Chicago. 

"  Professor  McKeever  in  this  volume  produced  a  book  which  is  an  honor 
to  himself  and  his  college.  The  simplicity  of  the  language  almost  blinds 
the  reader  to  the  immense  amount  of  research  necessary  to  the  production 
of  the  book."—  Christian  Work. 

"  Professor  McKeever's  '  Farm  Boys  and  Girls '  is  a  delightful  as  well  as  a 
scientific  study  of  that  always  absorbing  subject,  the  young  person.  It  has 
appeared  at  the  psychological  moment  and  is  a  monument  worthy  of  per- 
petuating his  name  if  he  had  done  nothing  else.  It  is  a  practical  book  and 
we  most  earnestly  recommend  it  to  every  farm  father  and  mother,  every 
rural  preacher  and  country  school  teacher."  —  Kinsley  (Kansas)  Graphic. 

"  There  are  10,000,000  boys  and  girls  enrolled  in  the  rural  schools  of  this 
country,  and  here  is  one  of  the  finest  books  that  could  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  parents  and  friends  of  these  children.  In  this  work,  Professor 
McKeever  is  doing  something  of  the  highest  value.  He  is  an  able  running 
mate  of  President  Butterfield.  To  such  men  this  land  is  greatly  indebted 
for  their  wholesome  and  inspiring  work  for  the  betterment  of  rural  condi- 
tions."—  New  England  Journal  of  Education. 

"  This  book  is  worthy  of  a  place  alongside  the  family  Bible  in  every  farm 
home.  It  is  dedicated  to  the  service  of  ten  million  boys  and  girls  who  are 
enrolled  in  the  rural  schools  of  America.  It  should  be  read  by  every  one 
of  them,  and  it  should  be  read  and  re-read  by  the  parent  of  every  child." 
—  Kansas  Farmer. 

"  The  book  should  be  read  by  all  those  who  are  interested  in  social  and 
economic  questions." —  Guardian,  Manchester,  England. 

"  Professor  McKeever's  book  is  a  serious  study  of  the  problem  of  boys  and 
girls  in  the  country,  and  how  it  may  be  solved.  It  is  really  a  Manual  of  Prin- 
ciples and  Methods  for  Improving  the  Conditions  of  Life  in  Farming  Com- 
munities. If  adopted,  country  life  would  be  made  larger,  fuller,  happier, 
and  more  blessed."  —  Living  Church,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 


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Training  the  Girl 


WILLIAM  A.  McKEEVER 

Professor  of  Child  Welfare  in  the  University  of  Kansas ;  Professor 
of  Philosophy,  Kansas  State  Agricultural  College,  1900-1913 

Decorated  cloth,  i2mo,  illustrated,  $1.50  net ;  postage  extra 

This  volume  is  the  third  in  a  series  illustrating  the  author's  "  whole- 
life  plan  "  of  child  training.  Here  Dr.  McKeever  provides  a  whole- 
some, practical,  and  inspiring  treatise,  touching  every  phase  of  the 
growing  girl's  life.  From  beginning  to  end  it  is  rich  in  methods,  de- 
vices, materials,  and  suggestions  such  as  can  be  used  by  any  parent  or 
teacher.  The  author's  varied  experience  as  student  and  teacher  of  psy- 
chology, as  public  lecturer  and  writer  in  the  entire  field  of  childhood, 
and  as  an  enthusiastic  believer  in  the  latest  possibilities  of  the  common 
child,  are  all  clearly  reflected  in  the  work.  Among  the  heads  in  the 
table  of  contents  are  the  following :  The  Kindergarten  Training,  At- 
tending the  Public  School,  Home  and  School  Cooperation,  The  High- 
School  Girl,  Sending  the  Daughter  to  College,  Teaching  the  Girl  to 
Play,  The  School  Girl's  Vacation,  The  Psychology  of  a  Girl's  Clothing, 
The  Campfire  Girls,  The  New  Vocational  Ideal,  Training  Schools  for 
Girls,  Occupations  for  Women,  Service  and  the  Source  of  Life,  The 
Early  Service  Development,  The  Girl's  Religious  Training,  Serving  the 
Common  Weal,  The  Attainment  of  Peace  and  Poise. 


"A  book  of  wide  scope,  offering  advice  designed  to  meet  every 
phase  of  a  girl's  varied  temperamental  tendencies  from  childhood  to 
womanhood.  The  author's  ideas  are  well  founded,  while  the  methods 
he  offers  are  based  on  sound  psychology,  rather  than  beautiful  but 
vague  and  indefinite  theories."  —  The  Continent. 

"A  practical  and  inspiring  treatise  covering  every  phase  of  the 
growing  girl's  life.  From  beginning  to  end  the  book  is  rich  in  meth- 
ods, devices,  materials,  and  suggestions  such  as  can  be  used  by  any 
parent  and  teacher."  —  Philadelphia  North  American. 


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Publishers  64-66  Fifth  Avenue  New  Tork 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 


Training  the  Boy 

Decorated  cloth  ,368  pp. >  40  illustrations,  $r.fO  net;  postage  extra 

Comments  on."  Training  the  Boy  " 

11  There  is  scarcely  a  phase  of  boy  life  which  is  overlooked,  and  those  who  are 
responsible  for  boys  will  find  suggestion,  information,  and  guidance  which 
will  be  valuable."  —  Boston  Watchman. 

"  This  is  a  large,  attractive  volume,  which  goes  thoroughly  into  the  question 
of  training  boys,  the  best  way  to  do  it,  the  best  results  to  be  had  in  such  train- 
ing, and  how  to  get  these  results.  The  work  as  a  whole  is  admirable,  sym- 
pathetic, and  so  thorough  that  there  ought  not  to  be  any  doubt  as  to  its  value 
and  the  excellence  of  its  results  when  its  inculcations  are  fairly  carried  out." 
—  Salt  Lake  City  Tribune. 

"  It  has  been  said  that  Professor  McKeever  knows  more  about  American 
boys  than  any  other  '  boy  fancier '  in  the  country.  Certainly  he  demon- 
strates, at  least,  that  he  belongs  in  the  class  of  those  who  have  much  definite 
and  widely  gleaned  information  about  the  rearing  of  boys.  His  new  book 
is  crammed  with  information  about  boys  and  pictures  of  them  at  their  work 
and  play."  —  Columbus  (OHIO)  Journal. 

" '  Training  the  Boy '  is  a  book  for  all  parents.  It  may  be  described  as  an 
expert  attempt  to  apply  to  the  problem  of  making  boys  into  worthy  citizens, 
the  general  principles  of  the  famous  Montessori  method.  It  is  not  a  fine- 
spun tissue  of  theory,  but  a  practical  discussion  based  upon  common  sense 
and  wide  experience."  —  Minneapolis  (MlNN.)  Journal. 
"  The  training  of  the  boy  from  early  babyhood  through  marriage  and  father- 
hood is  exhaustively  treated  by  Mr.  McKeever  in  this  book.  Strong  com- 
mon sense  and  sympathetic  interest  with  the  small  boy  are  marked  charac- 
teristics." —  New  York  City  Club-  Woman. 

"Fathers  and  mothers  will  find  this  work  of  great  value  in  the  training  of 
their  sons,  for  from  start  to  finish  the  book  is  entirely  unprejudiced,  broad, 
sane,  and  suggestive.  It  is  practically  a  compendium  on  the  needs  of  the 
growing  boy,  from  infancy  to  manhood."  —  New  Orleans  Picayune. 
"  This  is  a  crowded  book,  analyzing  the  boy  and  his  needs,  and  what  ought 
to  be  done  for  him,  marvelously  well.  To  review  this  book  would  be  simply 
to  write  it  over.  I  prefer  simply  to  say  to  my  readers :  Here  is  a  volume  of 
wit  and  wisdom  and  timeliness." —  Chicago  Unity. 

"  A  splendid,  wholesome  book  which  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  parent. 
It  deals  in  an  intelligent,  vigorous  way  with  that  topic  of  vital  social  interest, 
the  conservation  of  manhood."  —  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer. 


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Publishers  64-66  Fifth  Avenue  New  York 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

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